…Injures 5, destroys shops, houses
From Ismaila Muhammad, Dutse
A tragedy has stroke Babura town, the headquarters of Babura Local Government Area of Jigawa State, when a trailer carrying cooking gas cinders, numbering about 50, was stopped by Customs personnel on duty.
It was said that the driver refused to stop and in the process, one of the cylinders fell down and caught fire. An eye witness said immediately the remaining cylinders also caught fire, which resulted in burning down shops and mini temporary stalls and also destroying houses that were close to the scene.
Even though no life was lost, but five people were said to have sustained burns, injuries from the fire and were receiving treatment at Babura General Hospital, while the driver of the trailer had escaped unhurt.
The Customs officers on duty have suspected that the trailer carrying the gas cylinders came from the neighboring Niger Republic and was suspected to be owned by 1unknown Nigerian businessman.
Our correspondent gathered that after the incident, the Customs personnel were said to have carried their operational vehicle and run away from the town in fear of mob attack in order to save their lives.
In many occasions, men and officers Customs on patrol on border post of Nigeria/Niger were blamed to have been causing accidents and accused of killing smugglers during operation on the border posts.
Efforts were made to get the spokesperson of the Nigeria Customs Service, Kano/Jigawa Area Command, but it was not successful as text messages sent to him were not replied.
