Pandemonium As Suspected Customs Officers Invade Community, Burn Houses

Operatives believed to be personnel of the Nigerian Customs Service have invaded Fagbohun village in Yewa South Local Government Area of Ogun State, burning houses and ransacking homes.

The invasion followed an incident where two Customs officers were killed during a clash between the officials and smugglers last week in the area.

In what seems like a reprisal, the operatives on Monday visited the community to arrest the suspected killers of their colleagues – an action that forced residents to flee their homes for safety.

Residents said some houses and motorcycles were burnt and the palace of the Village Head was ransacked during the invasion.

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The Baale of Fagbohun village, Simeon Fagbohun, confirmed the incident to reporters in Abeokuta, the state capital.

He stressed that the villagers were innocent and had nothing to do with the death of the customs officers.

When contacted, the spokesman for the Customs Federal Operating Unit, Ikeja, Theophilus  Duniya, denied the allegation that the security operatives attacked the village.

Rather, he said despite that the service lost two of its officers to attack allegedly by the people in the area, operatives did not take the law into their hands.

“The incident that happened last week, some people were arrested in connection with murder as murder suspects,” Duniya told Channels Television.

“In as much as we seek to have justice for the slain officers, we cannot take the laws into our hands by destroying people’s property. So, it was not executed by our operatives.

“Operatives of Customs service never burned anybody’s house, never burned any motorcycle. The only thing I know was done was the arrest of suspects that are in custody,” he concluded.

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Last week, there was a clash between officers attached to the Federal Operating Unit, Ikeja, Lagos, who were in the village for an operation, and some smugglers.

It was gathered that the smugglers, on sighting the patrol team, unleashed terror on them as two officers got missing in the clash that followed.

The lifeless body of one of the missing officers was later found by a river near Ajegun Iyaloosa village without his rifle.

The body of the second officer was later recovered the next day, bringing the number of operatives murdered to two.