"Man nabbed with gun and 50 rounds of ammunition on British Airways flight"

Thursday, March 29, 2007

Man nabbed with gun on British Airways flight
By GOWON EMAKPE
Nigeria - The Daily Sun


Abuja - A potentially fatal security breach was averted in Lagos on Tuesday
night when a man with a gun and 50 rounds of ammunition was arrested inside
a London-bound British Airways jet at the Murtala Muhammed Airport a few
minutes prior to its take-off.

The man, whose identity was not disclosed was said to have beaten the
various security checks at the airport and was comfortably seated when an
eagle-eyed security agent inside the plane arrested him and handed him over
to the airport security.

Minister of State for Air Transport, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, who briefed
journalists on the matter, in Abuja on Wednesday, said the incident happened
at about 10p.m.

He, however, declined to go into details, saying he would not dabble into
security issues until investigations were completed.

The minister, who praised officials of the Federal Airport Authority of
Nigerian (FAAN) for their dedication and commitment, said the security and
intelligent agencies were already working on the incident.

Said he: "This is a very, very serious issue indeed, and I will not go any
further than that. We must respect the fact that the security agents who are
intelligent agents are doing their jobs.

"Some serious things happened and our securities were on top of the
situation and ensured it did not happen. That means our security system is
working and that should encourage people," he added.

Managing Director of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN),
Mohammed Yusuf, praised the airport security for averting what could have
been a potentially dangerous situation.

"There was a security breach yesterday (Tuesday). We will not go into
details, but we thank God for the collaborative effort of our security in
the airports," he said.

Executive Director of Security, Mr Sale Dumumo, said many bad eggs had been
removed from the system as a result of the restructuring going on in the
ministry, saying the security has been tightened at the nation's various
airports.

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