Yesterday the 29th of August, A Customs officer (Name Witheald) on his way to office at the Seme border post was killed while his car was burnt by a mob in revenge of the alleged shooting of a smuggler by another officer at the border post, earlier in the day.
The deceased officer was said to have been accosted by the mob shortly after the shooting of the smuggler in front of Operation Two Area at the border.
The smuggler, attempted to bring bags of rice into the country from Benin Republic.
The development was confirmed by the Seme Customs Command’s Public Relations Officer, Ernest Olottah, in a statement.
According to him, the dead Customs officer was brought out of his car and beaten to death while his car was set ablaze.The suspected smuggler identified simply as Saturday, was said to have been shot during an argument between him and another Customs officer.
Saturday, is an indigene of one of the communities at the border area. He is said to be recovering at an undisclosed hospital.
Olottah’s statement read in part: “The deceased Customs officer while in his uniform unarmed and driving to the command’s headquarters for a routine meeting was accosted by a mob who forced him out of his vehicle. Buoyed by an identified chief of the community, the officer was murdered in cold blood and his vehicle set ablaze.”
He added that the attack may not be unconnected with the hard stance of the command to smuggling.
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