We offered bandits bags of rice for safety, Customs official confesses
- Customs personnel had to pay bandits with bags of rice to guarantee their safety
- Comptroller Aliyu Mohammed said 37 bags of rice were seized by Customs and the bandits asked for seven
- Mohammed also lamented the frequent attack by people living in border communities
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In efforts to save themselves from the hands of kidnappers, personnel of the Nigeria Customs Service has revealed that they had to offer bandits seven bags of seized rice as gifts.
This was disclosed in Katsina on Tuesday, March 9, by Comptroller Aliyu Mohammed, the Coordinator of the Sector 4 Command of the Joint Border Patrol Team in the North West.
He disclosed that operatives had entered the bush where the bandits were taking shelter because it was the same route that smugglers used to bring contrabands into the country, Channels TV reports.
Source: Twitter
He said:
“We (the operatives) seized 37 bags of rice and the bandits asked for seven bags before allowing them to pass and save their lives.
“So, you see the risk we take but people, especially those living along the border communities engaged in attacking our officers."
Meanwhile, Legit.ng had reported that the Zamfara state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has dismissed the allegations that it paid N57 million to bandits, asking them not to release the Jangebe abducted girls.
The chairman of the APC caretaker committee in Zamfara, Lawan Liman, faulted a chieftain of All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), Abdullah Shinkafi for making the claims.
Liman challenged Shinkafi to mention names of the APC members he accused of supporting the bandits.
Another report indicates that Governor Bello Matawalle has secured the release of ten kidnapped victims who had been in captivity for over three months and two weeks.
Abubakar Dauran, the commissioner for security and home affairs who made this known said the victims were rescued without the payment of any ransom through the peace initiative of the governor's administration.
The affected people which includes three men, four women, and three children were abducted in the Gwaram community of Talata Mafara local government area of the state.
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Aanu Adegun is a politics and current affairs content editor at Legit.ng with over 7 years of experience in both digital and traditional media. A graduate of English Studies from Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko, Ondo state, Aanu started his journalism career as a features writer. Aanu, who is also a creative writer has written books and children magazines. He once anchored some specialised pages of a national newspaper. Aanu is also a satirist.
Source: Legit.ng
