It was gathered that stray bullets fired by the officers, who were attached to the federal operations unit, hit the four people that included a motorcycle rider, Alayoade Arewayo and one John Sonayo.
Arewayo survived and was rushed to a private hospital in Badagry, while Sonayo was said to have died in transit from the Badagry General Hospital to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja.
The other two, whose names could not be ascertained at press time, were reportedly taken to a hospital in Cotonou, Benin Republic.
Punch reports that immediately the incident happened, the customs officers fled the scene. The customs officer then got reinforcements from a military barracks in the area to forestall a mob attack.
Arewayo, who sustained a gunshot injury in the leg, said he was returning from a church programme around 7.30pm on Saturday when he was hit by a stray bullet.
He said: “I had a crusade programme at Marina, Ebute area on that day. I had left the place for home when it started raining. I decided to call at a shop to buy noodles that I would take in the night.
”I had hardly dropped off my motorcycle, when I started hearing sporadic gunshots; people were running helter-skelter. I thought it was armed robbery. The people I wanted to buy noodles from had also taken to their heels.
”As I fled for dear life, I was hit by a bullet in the leg. I fell and was assisted to a hospital by my friend that was with me. It was later I was told that four people were shot and one person later died.”
It was learned that the customs officers neither went to the community in their operational vehicle nor wore their uniforms as they were led by one Jude.
A resident of the community, David Taiwo said he reported the incident at the Badagry police division about 8.30pm. Taiwo added that the divisional police officer assigned a policeman to visit the scene of the shooting.
He said: ”We discovered that the customs officers were from the federal operations unit in Ikeja; they were posted to Badagry. They were not in their operational vehicle and they didn’t wear their uniform. They came in a private car. They pursued a smuggler, who loaded about eight bags of rice.
”To effect arrest, they started shooting sporadically. Four innocent people were hit by bullets. One of them, John Sonayo, was taken to the Badagry General Hospital, but he was referred to LASUTH. It was on the way that he died. The family members of the other victims took them to Cotonou for treatments. The victims were not smugglers.”
Taiwo said the customs officers ran to Ibereko Barracks to get reinforcement against members of the community that had gathered to attack them.
A community leader said no fewer than 10 residents had been allegedly killed in 2016 by operatives of the Nigeria Customs Service, adding that the officers usually harassed residents.
”Sometimes, they move from house to house with the help of soldiers. They ransack houses and shops. People in Badagry now live in fear, ” he added.
Police public relations officer Dolapo Badmos confirmed that there was a shooting incident in the area, adding that the police had written the customs authorities for details.
She said: ”We have written to the customs authorities to furnish us with relevant facts that will aid our investigations into the matter.”
The spokesperson for the Nigeria Custom Service (NCS), Jerry Attah said he has not been briefed on the incident.
Attah said: ”But as a command, we don’t condone indiscipline and we don’t encourage our officers to shoot at harmless civilians. We will investigate the case.”
However, an official said those victims were smugglers, the customs service recovered two cars filled with smuggled rice from them.
He said: ”What happened that day was that some customs officers, attached to Iyafi checkpoint, apprehended two unregistered Passat Station Wagon loaded with smuggled rice along Sycamore Hotel Road. One of the vehicles was attacked by the smugglers en route to the customs office.
”Some of the customs officers fired several shots to secure their safety, thereby injuring two persons, while the two cars were forcefully released by the smugglers. One of the injured persons was taken to the general hospital where he later died. The other person is responding to treatment in a hospital in Badagry.”
Recently, Nigeria Customs seizeed N597.7bn bags of rice . The NCS announced that it seized tonnes of bags of rice valued at about N597.7 billion between January and August 2016 even as the commodity’s price skyrockets.
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