A Customs officer was shot dead on Sunday by gunmen at the Fingila checkpoint in Arewa/Dandi Local Government Area of Kebbi State.
Witnesses said the armed men, who initially stormed farmlands in the community, forced farmers to abandon their work after seizing their food.
A local resident, Malam Abdulrasheed, told reporters that the attackers compelled farmers to taste their own meals before collecting the rest.
“They said there would be no farming that day and ordered the farmers to go home,” he recounted.
According to him, about seven assailants riding on motorcycles later ambushed the Customs officer near a mosque.
“They fired at him but missed the first shot. The second bullet hit him as he ran into a maize farm close to the mosque,” Abdulrasheed said.
Two other officers, who were nearby, reportedly escaped by crawling through the farm, though they sustained injuries.
The slain officer, believed to be from Maiduguri in Borno State, was said to have been stationed near the mosque before the attack.
As of press time, the Nigeria Customs Service in Kebbi had yet to release an official statement on the incident.