Bandits attack, rob as plane taxi to hangar 

• FAAN probes incident

Unknown bandits have robbed an aircraft shortly after it landed at the Lagos airport from Istanbul. The attack was carried out as the airplane was taxiing to the hangar.

This is coming as the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has commenced investigation on alleged robbery incident on an aircraft which occurred on December 12^th, 2017.

The incident was reported to have occurred on a Vista Jet aircraft with Call Sign VJT 584, while taxiing on the night the said date.

A source told New Telegraph that the jet operated by EAN on December 12 2017 was attacked on the runway18R of the airport by unknown bandits when taxiing to the hangar of  Evergreen Apple Nigeria (EAN) Ltd. The jet was arriving from Istanbul between 2110-2130hrs after landing in Lagos.

The source said, the pilot of the jet Captain Emma Heering discovered that the rear door of the aircraft was opened while taxiing to the hangar of EAN after which it was discovered that a big black bag belonging to the air hostess, Francesca Louis was missing from the jet.

In a reaction to the reports, a combined team of FAAN’s Aviation Security Department, Airport Police Command and other relevant security agencies have swung into action to reveal the perpetrators of this act and to prevent future reoccurrence of such.

Thefts on board airlines in Nigeria are becoming very frequent. In October this year, a man stole $50, 000 from the bag of a fellow passenger was arrested when the owner raised alarm over the theft.

Two years ago, FAAN arrested two passengers for allegedly stealing N1.5million from the luggage of another passenger inside Medview aircraft en-route Abuja.

An aviation consultant who pleaded anonymity stated that with all the other worries associated with air travel, the last thing you want to think about is theft on board airplanes.

The people who steal from travellers’ carry-on bags, he reiterated are both airline employees (usually flight attendants) and fellow travellers.

Unfortunately, theft from sleeping and unknowing passengers has been going on for years – while not extremely common, it only gets brought to the public’s attention when an arrest is made, so who really knows how often these events occur.

In May 2016, the largest in-flight thefts ever reported was when a Turkish businessman reported that during a flight to Hong Kong, he had $260, 000 (cash and jewelry) was stolen from his carry-on bag he placed in the plane’s overhead compartment during his flight.

In Jan 2016, a passenger is caught stealing $5,000 in valuables from a passenger bag from the overhead compartment from a Danish passenger’s luggage on another Turkish Airlines flight.

In August 2015, an incident of in-flight theft, which target passengers on flights arriving into Hong Kong, have been on the rise in the past few years.

Since the first half of 2015 alone, there were 45 reported cases of in-flight thefts reported to airport authorities in that airport alone.

Twenty-three people were arrested in those incidents. It should be noted that these numbers only focus on in-bound flights to Hong Kong, not out-bound flights.

Wole Shadare