How army Captain kills Customs officer in smuggling bid
From Eugene Agha, Lagos
Baba Nwagiyawo, an officer with the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) attached to the Federal Operations Unit (FOU), Zone, A, Ikeja, Lagos never had any premonition that danger was lurking around the corner in form of death when he left for work at Agbara, a Joint security check-point penultimate Friday.
Things went on smoothly until around 3pm when from an intelligence source they got information about the movement of some suspected smugglers.
Ready for action, the customs men along with officials of other security agencies mounted a road block so as to prevent the suspected smugglers from escaping.
Not long after, they sighted the convoy of about five exotic vehicles approaching their checkpoint. An impeccable source said that in each of the cars were armed soldiers with Army Captain A. M Murnai in the pilot vehicle.
The custom men were said to have dropped their guard on seeing that the occupants were military men.
One of the officers who spoke to Daily Trust on Sunday on condition of anonymity said, at first they never suspected that the vehicles were being smuggled.
It was gathered that things took a different dimension when one of the vehicles ran over Baba Nwagiyawo, who was flagging them down for the usual checks with the following vehicles further running over him.
Pandemonium broke out between the soldiers and other customs officers and it took the combined effort from other security operatives to arrest the soldiers.
Four vehicles suspected to be smuggled under the guise of army convoy are two units Mercedez Benz Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) ML 350, one Toyota Venza and another Mercedez Benz saloon car.
Meanwhile, the remains of the deceased have since been deposited at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja while the soldiers and their official vehicle have also been moved to Ibereko Barracks, Badagry, by the military intelligence on the instruction of the Commanding Officer for further interrogation.