Ahmed Abubakar, Dutse
A joint border patrol team of Customs and Military officers gunned down a suspected rice smuggler yesterday in the Babura Local Government Area of Jigawa State.
The deceased, Tasiu Muhammad, m, 22, a resident of Babura, was killed at Unguwar Gawo, a five kilometre drive from Babura town, the council headquarters.
Jigawa Commissioner of Police Bala Zama Senchi, confirming the incident at a press conference on Tuesday, said that the police were not part of the operation that led to the killing.
According to resident accounts of the killing, Muhammad had been on a security wanted list for his mastery of smuggling routes since the closure of Nigeria’s border with Niger Republic.
Muhammad was reportedly shot dead while attempting to flee from arrest when the joint patrol team chased him.
When contacted, Nigeria Customs spokesperson for the Kano/Jigawa command Dan-Baba said: “I’m currently in a meeting. I will get back to you later,” ending the call abruptly.
Babura Local Government Area in Jigawa shares a border with Niger Republic, where rice smugglers use alternative bush routes to smuggle their contraband into the country.
In an unrelated but fatal development, Police Commissioner Senchi said that one person had died and six others maimed in separate clashes between farmers and herders in Guri and Kirikasamma local government areas of the state.
One person was kiled while three persons were injured in Kirikasamma, the Commissioner said, pointing to tensions in Birniwa, with the Command deploying about 400 police officers to avoid rerisal attacks.
The Commissioner further confirmed that another man killed in Shuwarin town in Kiyawa LGA was stabbed in the chest by an unknown person, while another person killed at Jibboga village in Dutse was hit on his head while passing through the front of the accusers house.