Viral video: Customs to punish ‘killer officers’

Customs Public Relations Officer, Joseph Attah, a Deputy Comptroller of Customs, who disclosed this in Abuja, said the Assistant Comptroller General of Customs, Zone A, Ekekezie Kessy, visited the Federal Operations Unit in the zone at Ikeja, Lagos on Monday to interrogate the officers involved in the summary killing of the unarmed civilian.

A video, which went viral on the social media showed how a Customs officer shot a man dead on the highway during an argument on Sunday. A woman in the video alleged that the killing was “because of N5, 000”, implying the refusal of the victim to part with bribe money.

Attah, however, claimed that the killing was as a result of “accidental discharge”.

He said that the investigation was to find out the immediate and remote causes of the unfortunate incident that led to the death of an innocent citizen.

According to him, the interrogation will also reveal if better handling of weapon will have averted the incident.

“The officers involved are being interrogated, we look at it holistically, including weapon handling skills. If the officers are found guilty, they will be punished appropriately, we will allow the investigation to take place first.

“We still stand our ground that it is not a passenger of the bus that was deliberately shot dead but the victim was hit by the accidental discharge. We insist that the person that died was not a passenger but a Good Samaritan who used to assist our officers, we described him as a friend of Customs,” he said.

The spokesperson said that training of its personnel was a continuous process, adding that the Service often sought assistance of the military in this regard.