A vehicle belonging to the Nigeria Customs Service has been burnt beyond recognition by angry youths in Akwa Ibom.
The burnt NCS vehicle.
Irate youths on Thursday burnt down a Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) patrol vehicle at Uya-Oro junction in Oron Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom.
The angry youths staged the protest when some NCS personnel attempted to clamp down on a vehicle allegedly carrying five bags of imported rice.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that while the NCS vehicle was chasing a car with the contraband (rice), the car ran into commercial cyclists carrying three passengers.
A witness, who pleaded anonymity, said one of the three passengers died, living others injured.
He said the accident happened at about 3 p.m.
The angry youths later went berserk after a failed attempt of the customs personnel to arrest the car carrying the five bags of alleged imported rice.
Reacting to the issue, the Akwa Ibom Police Public Relations Officer, DSP MacDon Achebe, confirmed the incident.
He said that a customs vehicle tried to stop a car carrying contraband and the driver refused to stop.
“The customs personnel shot at the car and in an attempt to escape, it ran into a commercial cyclist,” Achebe said.
-NAN