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Tag: Kidnaps

  • Two rice smugglers killed during gun duel with police

    Two rice smugglers killed during gun duel with police

    Two rice smugglers were shot dead by officers of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) on Saturday after an exchange of gunfire.

    Another smuggler was arrested.

    The showdown happened at Shagamu Interchange on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway, after a patrol team from Federal Operations Unit Zone A, intercepted 12 vehicles.

    All were loaded with bags of parboiled foreign rice.

    According to acting Controller of the Unit, Hussein Ejibunu, the customs men were on their way to the government warehouse before the smugglers mobilised themselves with the support of others and attacked the team with dangerous weapons.

    One of the vehicles damaged by the smugglers

    “During the exchange of gunfire, two of the attackers lost their lives and one suspect was arrested.

    “Out of 12 vehicles in the convoy of the smugglers, our operatives were able to leave with four of them laden with smuggled foreign parboiled rice.

    “The arrested suspect and the seizure have been brought to the Unit Headquarters, Ikeja,” he said.

    Ejibunu frowned at the avoidable loss of lives due to the unprovoked attack and ordered full-scale investigations into the matter to apprehend other fleeing suspects with their smuggled wares.

    He cautioned members of the public to eschew violent confrontations with government operatives and be law abiding at all times

    “Such violent attacks will never deter or threaten customs operatives from carrying out their legitimate duties,” he said.

    He said that two operatives of customs wounded in the attack were receiving treatment in a medical facility.

  • We lost 11 members, 30 injured – Shi’ites

    The Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) popularly branded as Shiites group has alleged that 11 of its members were killed in a clash with the police in Abuja.
    It also claimed that 30 others were injured in the fracas.
    It said out of those injured, the police went to University of Abuja Teaching Hospital in Gwagwalada and took them to unknown place.
    The figures were contained in an update by the President of the Media Forum of Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN), Ibrahim Musa.
    The statement did not provide the list of those killed and injured.
    The statement said: “Abuja today (on Monday) yet again witnessed one of the worst cases of blatant trampling of the rights of citizens ever seen in the Federal Capital, when joint security forces consisting of both uniformed men and officers of the Nigerian Police Force and others in mufti, unleashed their fury on a Free Zakzaky protest by members of the Islamic Movement.
    “The procession, attended by several thousands of persons, including very young children, the aged, women and the physically challenged, met with an extreme rage indicative of deep seated animosity the Nigerian authorities bear for the Movement.
    “What actually happened was that the protesters started the procession from NITEL junction and on getting to federal secretariat the police cordoned off the road and started firing at them.
    “A lot of people have been shot but for now we can only confirm 11 deaths, but several are injured, the figure for now stood at 30. Though we are aware of the fact that the security agents have been going around taking off those they killed from the streets.
    “Even some seriously injured persons that were taken to Abuja University teaching Hospital Gwagwalada; the police went there and took away about 11 people they shot during the protest.
    “We strongly dispute the claim by the police that the protesters shot at them because throughout our processions we have not been carrying any arms right from 2015 to date. It was also the police who shot at the Reporter of Channels TV, another indication that many innocent people were shot at by the police, including some of their own.
    “In this era of social media the brutality displayed by the police today has been captured with some pictures showing the police setting up the bonfires and there are videos that captured the police carting away their victims”.

  • Boko Haram attacks Cameroon village, kills 11, kidnaps eight

    Some suspected Boko Haram militants killed 11 people and kidnapped eight others in an overnight raid on a village in northern Cameroon near the Nigerian border, officials said on Friday.

    The attackers burned down around 30 houses in Gakara village, just outside the town of Kolofata, which has been a frequent target of suicide bombings by the Islamist group.

    An army colonel put the death toll at 11, while a district official said that 15 people had been killed.

    The mayor of Kolofata confirmed that an attack had taken place but said he did not know the death toll.

    Boko Haram attacks have killed more than 20,000 people and displaced 2.7 million during the group’s eight-year insurgency to carve out an Islamic caliphate in the Lake Chad region.

    “The attack happened around midnight.

    “The Boko Haram assailants arrived.

    “They set 32 houses on fire killed, pillaged, and traumatised the population,” said the district official, who asked not to be named because he was not authorised to speak.

    “Many people fled the village for a camp near Kolofata that houses thousands displaced by Boko Haram violence,” he said.

     

     

    Reuters/NAN