Nigeria’s major carrier, Air Peace has expressed alarm over the dismissal of possible burglars at the airside of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos.
The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has dismissed as untrue that there was an attempt to open the cargo hold of Air Peace Lagos-Abuja Flight 7138 on Thursday as the aircraft waited before takeoff at the holding point of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) Runway 18R.
According to the Pilot in Command of the 7:35 pm flight, Capt Adesola Arasi, while the aircraft waited for the control tower to give signal for takeoff, the pilot noticed that cargo hold light switch on for 15 seconds, indicating that someone has opened the cargo hull and he stopped the flight and directed cabin crew officials to check it out.
When it was checked, it was evident that the cargo hold door was tampered with, but NCAA in a statement issued on Sunday accused Air Peace of raising a false alarm, insisting that indications show that there was no security breach, as nobody was noticed around the aircraft while it waited.
In the statement signed by its spokesman, Sam Adurogboye, NCAA said, “The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority has declared the alleged and reported Runway 18R burglary attempt on the cargo hold of Air Peace as unfounded. This conclusion was arrived at after the Regulatory Authority reviewed all the reports from the relevant agencies concerning the incident and it was unproven.
“Last week, there were reports that the Pilot-in-Command (PIC) of Air Peace Flight no. APK 7138 with Aircraft no. 5N-BUJ had alerted the Lagos Control Tower that the Aircraft’s AFT Cargo Compartment has been opened. According to the Pilot in his report to the Tower, he noticed that the Cargo Compartment light came up for 15 seconds and went off. This means someone has opened the compartment’s door.”
But in a statement from Air Peace, signed by its head of communication, Chris Iwarah, the airline expressed apprehension on the sudden dismissal of possible security breach at the airport when reports are replete with incidents of such breaches, including those that access the airside of the airport and hide in aircraft that take them away from Nigeria as stowaways.
The statement from Air Peace said, “The conclusion by NCAA suggesting that our information on the incident was a false alarm absolutely lacks basis. From the report, it is clear that the only reason for NCAA’s dismissal of the very serious security breach was the claim that when an aircraft of another airline beamed its lights after our pilot alerted the control tower to the incident, the suspected thieves were not seen.
“We need to reiterate that our pilot’s call to control tower was made after the rear cargo hold of our aircraft was opened and shut after fifteen seconds. We, therefore, begin to wonder whether NCAA expected the suspected thieves to be there waiting after opening and shutting the cargo hold within a space of fifteen seconds.
“Even before we confirmed the incident, our guests (passengers) on board the aircraft had made their independent accounts of the occurrence public. We would have thought NCAA would make some effort to reach guests on board the aircraft to share their experience. But it decided, once more, to go its usual path – deny, dismiss and protect themselves from the truth.”
NCAA argued that Arik Air flight, which was behind the Air Peace flight had its full light beamed at the Air Peace aircraft and the security operatives on escort of the flights did not see anyone.
There have been many reports of theft incidents at the Lagos airport runway in recent times.
