Four hoodlums among many others who were attempting to break into the Nigeria Customs Command and Staff College, Gwagwalada, to loot were allegedly shot dead by Customs officers.
Daily Trust gathered that the hoodlums attempted to scale the fence of the college, but were stopped by armed officers.
A resident of the area said the hoodlums, after discovering that operatives were guarding the main gate of the college, went through the back fence, where four of them were allegedly killed.
He explained that, “The Customs officers first shot into the air to scare the hoodlums but still the hoodlums tried to climb the fence. So one of the officers shot at them and killed four persons.”
He further said the other hoodlums ran away, adding that the corpses of the four hoodlums were deposited at the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital, Gwagwalada.
Another resident of the area, Wasiu Shina, who operates a private school opposite the Customs college, said, “the hoodlums first came and vandalised my school bus and private vehicle that I parked in front of the gate before they injured my security guard and escaped with the motorcycle belonging to the driver of my school bus.”
One of the deceased hoodlums was identified as Mohammed Tirmizi. It was also learnt that the corpse of Tirmizi was released for burial yesterday.
When contacted, the spokesman of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Deputy Comptroller Joseph Attah, confirmed the incident to our reporter on telephone.
Attah said, “They came to the Customs Command and Staff College, Gwagwalada, but were repelled.”
