Earlier this week, cab drivers that operate at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos and other airports in the country drew the attention of security agencies to the growing number of touts, motorists and others that infiltrate airports premises.
They noted that some of these people with unknown background could be terrorists or agents of terrorists, disguising as cab drivers or protocol officers of some companies. The airport cabs drivers warned that these unknown people could move incendiary devices into the airport and cause maximum damage.
Taxi operators under the aegis of Airport Car Hire Association of Nigeria (ACHAN) therefore called on security operatives to profile these illegal airport users, especially at this period of heightened insecurity in the country.
The operators observed that the infiltration of these touts as well as the illegal car hire operators has been unchecked over the years but it has become very dangerous now that the country is under terror threat and airports are their usual targets.
THISDAY investigation revealed that despite seeming efforts to control movement of people into these airports, more and more people who have nothing to do at these airports access the facilities and carry out different kinds of illegal activities extorting and/or stealing money from travellers and other airport users.
Few days ago, this writer was trying to locate KLM new office at the international terminal of the Lagos airport. Two men, who had observed him moving around, who were obviously touts accosted him, asking him what he wanted.
When he told one of them he was trying to locate KLM new office, he offered to take him to the new office. He (tout) quickly climbed down the staircase below the floors where airline offices are located. Suspecting that the tout had mischievous intentions, this writer followed him down to a dingy ground floor and the following discussion ensured.
Writer: Where are you taking me to? I know this airport more than you do.
Tout: Come on, this is where their office is now, motioning towards a dark alley. At that point, this writer turned and climbed the stairs to where airlines offices are located on the third floor of the terminal.
This experience confirmed that some of these touts misguide ignorant passengers to dark corners of the airport where they are robbed amid the presence of security operatives who are ubiquitously located at the airport facility.
A worker with a company that facilitates documentation for airlines told THISDAY that the security operatives know and recongise these touts; that they also know that they do not have any meaningful thing doing at the airport; yet, they allow them to be roaming everywhere.
“From the reports we get everyday, these touts can do anything. If you give them bombs they can bring it to the airport. That is whey after the general checks by aviation security of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and other security agencies; the airlines themselves carry out security checks on every passenger and checked in bags. This is because the airline will bear the responsibility if anything happens; although it will forever damage the image of our country, Nigeria,” the personnel said.
On the activities of unregistered cab drivers at the airport, a source told THISDAY that some of them put stickers of security organisations on their cars like Nigeria Air Force, Army, Police and others. They even wield documents to show that some top security agency officers own the vehicles they drive. But they do not follow the given procedures or security checks and they also cannot be traced when they leave the airport the passengers.
There is no indication that security at the airports profiles these cab drivers that are not members of the ACHAN and even the members of ACHAN regulate themselves in accordance with the rules put in place by FAAN. This explains why if a passenger loses items at the airport he could get them back if he patronised the registered taxi drivers.
Security officials, who spoke to THISDAY said that illegal taxi drivers are like a ticking time bomb that could detonate at anytime.
“They have vehicles; they know the airports, they can easily be used to carry out dangerous assignments at the airports. The time to take action is now. They should make sure that anyone at the airport is there for one legal purpose or another. Touts should not be allowed to roam the airports at this time. The situation now is too sensitive for that,” a retired airport security official told THISDAY.
Observations show these cab drivers do not conduct themselves well. On leaving the arrival hall, a passenger is confronted by a gamut of taxi drivers who stop you on your stride, demanding where you are going and his readiness to take you there. They refuse your no, and insist they take you to your destination. Many air travellers had said it is only in Nigeria you experience such confrontation. In other climes, including other part of Africa, if you want to take a taxi at the airport you go to their offices on the outskirts of the terminal.
“But in Nigeria there are so many touts, so many taxi drivers and bureau de change people harassing you and making you feel miserable. They make you feel you should go back to where you are coming from,” a passenger told THISDAY.
These illegal taxi drivers, the touts and other illegal users of the airports are like a tinderbox. They could be used to bomb the airports. So the warning given by the Airport Car Hire Association of Nigeria is very timely.
