Olufemi Adediran 
Operatives of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), have allegedly shot dead a twoyears- old girl in Ogun State. Saturday Telegraph gathered that the incident occurred on Thursday in Itawaya community, near the Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro, Yewa South Local Government Area of the State. According to an eye witness, the two-year-old was hit by a stray bullet allegedly fired by one of the customs officers. It was further gathered that the kid was killed when the men of the NCS were chasing some suspected smugglers of foreign rice in the community. The witness, who pleaded anonymity, told our correspondent that the child was rushed to a hospital, but she was pronounced dead having lost too much blood. He added that there were gunshot injuries near the girl’s armpit, suggesting that the bullet penetrated through that part into her body.
Some young men were also said to have sustained gunshot injuries in the incident that raised tension among residents of the area. “Those customs officers thought he was smuggling rice, so they opened fire on him. It was one of the stray bullets that killed the child and also inflicted injuries on the mother. The source said. “It was after they have committed murder that they realised the man they were chasing was not with rice. That’s what we face here all the time. “Unfortunately, it happened the day President Muhammadu Buhari was in other zones of the State to inaugurate projects.
May God rescue us!” When contacted, the Public Relations Officer of the NCS Federal Operating Unit (FOU) in Zone A, Theophilus Duniya, confirmed that men of the unit were mobilised to Ogun State, but said he could not speak on the incident. Duniya said the Customs officers were deployed in Ogun to calm the situation. “I’m aware officers from this unit went for reinforcement to calm a situation down. “But for further enquiries and details of that incident, I will advise you to contact the NCS PRO at Ogun command,” Duniya said.