A police corporal shot a man suspected to be a tout
on Thursday night for refusing to give him N500 at the Murtala Muhammed
International Airport in Lagos.
The policeman, whose identity is yet to
be released by the Airport Command of the Nigerian Police Force, was
said to have shot the man in the stomach at the public car park of the
MMIA.
The money was said to have been given to
the suspected tout by a passenger whom he had assisted to push his
baggage trolley from the arrival terminal to the car park.
Aviation Security officials of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria
immediately alerted the airport police command and the corporal was
subsequently arrested.
The General Manager, Corporate Communications, FAAN, Mr. Yakubu Dati, confirmed the development.
But said it could not be confirmed if the victim was dead or not.
“The man was shot by a policeman. He has
been rushed to the hospital. The policeman has been arrested. You know,
as it is with anything involving a bullet, only a medical doctor can
confirm now if the person was dead,” Dati said.
The Commissioner of Police, Airport
Command, Mr. Olatunji CaulCrick, also confirmed the development. He said
that the circumstances surrounding the shooting was still being
investigated, adding that the suspected tout was responding to
treatment.
CaulCrick said, “The matter is being
investigated. The man that was shot is a suspected tout. We have
arrested the policeman who shot him. He will explain the circumstances
that led him to shoot the man. There are guides and procedures for using
firearms. We don’t know if the man in question exhibited some threats.”
Unconfirmed reports said the corporal
was invited to the car park by a woman who had complained that some
touts were harassing her.
The policeman, who was identified by
airport officials as Mr. Emmanuel Agabi, was said to have followed the
woman to the car park where he met some of the touts that had prevented
the woman from moving her car.
Agabi was said to have asked the woman to move her car in the presence of the touts and she offered him N500 in return.
Unconfirmed reports said the policeman did not accept the money from the woman.
After the woman had left, the touts, led
by one Chuks, allegedly challenged Agabi for stopping them from
collecting money from the woman. The situation, it was learnt, forced
the latter to shoot Chuks in the stomach.
As at 6 pm on Friday, unconfirmed reports said the gunshot victim was still alive.
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