Crime
NDLEA official, dismissed four soldiers have been tried by the Nigerian Army, dismissed and handed over to the men of the Niger State Police Police Command after they were involved in the stabbing an officer of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, to death during an altercation on a highway in the state, the command announced on Friday, May 24.
According to the state police command on its Facebook wall, the men, whose names were given as Sani Munzani, aged 24 years; Abubakar Auwalu, aged 26 years; Abubakar Sani, aged 23 years and Muazu Hassan, aged 22 years, committed the act in the Bida area of the state.
According to the command, a team of NDLEA officers who were on a stop and search duty at Ramat Junction, Bida, flagged down a motorcycle that had two soldiers who were not in uniforms and requested for their identification.
However, the soldiers were said to have refused to produce any means of identification, and the NDLEA officers decided to search their bags, though nothing incriminating was found by the officers.
This was said to have infuriated the two soldiers who engaged them in arguments and later left the scene. They thereafter returned with more soldiers to the scene and descended on the anti narcotic officers.
The command wrote: “Unfortunately during the fight, an officer of the NDLEA, named Kingsley Chimetalo, was stabbed at the back with a knife by one of the soldiers while his rifle was taken away. The injured officer was taken to Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Bida, where he gave up the ghost.
However, during investigation by the police in collaboration with 18 Brigade of the Nigeria Army, Bida, six soldiers were identified to have been involved in the incident, four were court martialed and dismissed, while two were said to have escaped.
According to the police statement: “The four soldiers were handed over to the police for prosecution, while Sani Munzani confessed to have stabbed the officer. All suspects are under investigation in SCID, Minna, and will be charged to court as soon as investigation is concluded.”
May 26, 2024 @ 23:48 GMT.
Tags: NDLEA
