There was pandemonium in Morawa village, Batagarawa local government area of Katsina State when a stray bullet by custom officers allegedly hit a primary six pupil, Bello Salisu of Morawa Primary school, a government owned school.
The incident which occurred on Friday was said to have happened along Katsina – Kano road when the custom operatives were chasing smugglers conveying Rice and Second hand clothes in a J-5 and allegedly shooting sporadically.
The pupil, little Bello Salisu was hit by the stray bullets and sustained injuries on his hand, around his shoulder and neck.
Bello, who spoke to newsmen from his hospital bed in the Accident and Emergency area of General Hospital, Katsina said they were on break when they heard gunshots and ran to see what happened when he was hit by the bullets from the custom officers.
An eyewitness, Abubakar Yusuf said the custom operatives were chasing smugglers when the incident happened. “The custom officers were chasing a J5 Bus which was carrying smuggled rice and second new clothes and in the process they shot at the smugglers which hit the student. And so we had to rush the boy down to the hospital as they drove away,” Yusuf said while also displaying the empty cover of the bullet allegedly shot by the custom officers.
Parents of the victim, Salisu Yusuf (Father) and his mother could not talk as tears roll down their cheeks uncontrollably.
It was gathered that Bello is the only male child in the family. Principal Personnel Officer, PPO of the Batagarawa Local Government Education Authority, LGEA, Aminu Bello expressed dismay over the incident which he said calls for urgent intervention by the government to avert future occurrence of such incidence.
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