Pregnant Woman Hit By Customs Stray Bullets While Pursuing Rice Smugglers in Ogun

 

A pregnant woman identified as Olugunna Bukola was on Thursday hit by a stray bullet from the gunshot fired by an operative attached to the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) at the Iyana Iyesi area of Ota in Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Area of Ogun State while in a hot chase with rice smugglers.

The victim, Bukola, who was said to be eight months old pregnant and a staff of IBEDC, Ota, was allegedly shot by one of the NCS operatives attached to the Federal Operation Unit (FOU) Ikeja, at about 7.45a.m. while on her way to the office.

A resident of the area who craved anonymity and witnessed the incident, said the woman was hit by bullets on her back and the left side of her body, when the Customs officials were pursuing rice smugglers in the area.

He said though the woman was rushed to a nearby hospital for medical treatment, he could not ascertain whether she survived the gunshot wounds or not.

The source hinted that the Customs official who shot the pregnant woman was later arrested by policemen attached to Obasanjo Farm Police Station, Ota,  and later taken to Sango Police Station for investigation.

When contacted over the incident, spokesman of FOU Unit, of the Nigeria Customs Service, Ikeja, Jerry Attah, said he was yet to confirm the incident.

Also, the Public Relations Officer (PRO), Ogun State Customs Area Command, Abdullahi Maiwada, confirmed the incident but said the woman was only brushed by stray bullets and not hit.

According to him, "The officers were on a trail of a suspected smuggled vehicle and in the process, they were mobbed by some unpatriotic members of the public.

“The officers were left with no other option than to resort to shoot sporadically into the air, and in the process, the said woman was brushed by a stray bullet. The Customs officers were in police station for safety to avoid mob attack, and not the insinuation that they were arrested by the police. We spoke with the relative of her husband and the doctor, they both confirmed that the woman was responding to treatment," Maiwada stated.

But the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Ogun State Police Command, Abimbola Oyeyemi, also confirmed the incident.

According to him, "mob at the scene of the incident had wanted to attack the Customs officials, but for the timely intervention of the policemen, the FOU operatives were rescued to the police station.

Oyeyemi, an ASP, stated that normalcy had since returned to the area, while the victim of the gunshots was responding to treatment.