From Lawal Sa’idu Funtua, Katsina
Governor Aminu Masari of Katsina State has urged the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and operators of Border Drill Operations to desist from using excessive force in the cities during their operations.
Masari made the disclosure when the Sector Coordinator of the Border Drill Operations, Katsina, Assistant Comptroller General of Customs, Mr Bashir Abubakar, paid him a courtesy call yesterday in Katsina.
He said “We don’t want you using excessive force shooting inside cities during your operations, because that creates panic, and in the panic, to run away, some people get injured and some even loss their lives.
“I think you should be more civil when you are executing those your orders, certainly, we will not accept sporadic shooting inside the city” he advised .
According to him “Whatever you are going to, do it in the bush not in the towns, but when it comes to inside cities you are making recoveries or seizures, be more civil, we don’t want fire arms,” he said.
He said that the customs should try to resolve the issue of Customs Duty for vehicles, because some people may have it and think that it is genuine.
Masari further said that customs should give enough time for people to go and rectify the issue, pledging to given them all the support they require, saying that: ‘we don’t want shooting’.
The governor also urged the operators to intensify efforts in enlightening the people particularly border communities on the dangers associated with smuggling.
He advised them to involved the community and religious leaders in the enlightenment.
“Engage all necessary stakeholders like religious leaders to provide people with correct information, because when there is no correct information, the wrong information will continue to be circulated,” he said.
Earlier, the ACG Bashir Abubakar, told the governor that they seized many bags of foreign rice, fairly used clothes, tyres, illicit drugs, vehicles and cannabis sativa during the past three months.
Abubakar said that they have noticed that the there is lack of adequate knowledge on the part of people, the situation leading to the increase in the rate of smuggling.
He said that they would continue to arrest smugglers and prosecute them to serve as deterrent to others.
