Luggage Robbery Syndicate At Lagos Airport Exposed…

* The Aviation Security (AVSEC) directorate of the
Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has
exposed the pilfering of passengers’ luggage, a
scandal that has lasted for years, after several
months of investigation by the agency, using
close circuit television (CCTV). The syndicate
behind the protracted theft at the Murtala
Muhammed International Airport, Lagos has now
been unraveled.
FAAN identified the
suspect behind the syndicate as a 38-year-old
Chinwendu Okereobode, an employee of Check
Port Security (a private aviation handling
company that works for Emirates Airlines), who in
connivance of another suspect, Mr. Oriola Afeez, a
member staff of the Nigeria Aviation Handling
Company Plc (Nacho Aviance) who is still on the
run, and others who were yet to be identified ran
the illicit baggage pilfering ring at the airport.
General Manager, Corporate Communications of
FAAN, Yakubu Dati said Okereobode was caught
on September 2, by the CCTV after it was
reviewed by AVSEC. According to Dati, the
pilfering at the nation’s main airport, which had
generated a lot of controversies, had continued
unabated for some time and led to the Crime and
Investigation (CIB) unit of FAAN’s Aviation Security
Service to be put on the alert and directed to
investigate the issue.
“The investigation got a major lead when AVSEC
officials received a report of pilferage from
Emirate Airlines on its flight of July 19, 2013 and
CIB officials embarked on an inspection of the
photo footage from the aircraft’s bulk hold’s CCTV
showing the reported pilfering in progress,” he
said. Dati explained that, Okereobode was
identified in the footage and was apprehended,
where he later confessed to giving Afeez, a Nacho
Aviance staff, the permission to go ahead with
pilfering on the parked aircraft, while he gave him
protection inside the aircraft bulk hold.
“The culprit confessed to aiding and abetting the
Nacho Aviance member of staff in removing an I-
Pad computer and other valuable items belonging
to passengers, which were sold and proceeds from
the sale, in the sum of N8,000 was given to him.
“This discovery has confirmed that pilfering gangs
are mainly cargo handling agents and airline
security officials, who have been operating from
inside parked aircraft, contrary to the wrong
assumption that pilfering was done inside
terminal,” Dati alleged.
FAAN also disclosed that Okereobode, who was
charged for conspiracy and stealing, was on Friday
last week sentenced to six month imprisonment
concurrently, while police officers were kept on
the trail of Afeez. Reacting to the incident, Nahco
Aviance’s Head of Corporate Communications,
Adesanya Onayoade, said investigations were still
ongoing on the incident but acknowledged that it
was confirmed that a member staff of the
handling company was involved along with
workers of other agencies at the airport which
complete investigation would expose.
Onayoade said it was important that FAAN should
install CCTV at all the areas not accessible to staff
of handling companies and others who could
inspect what activities were going on during
offload of luggage.
“We are waiting for the full investigation. Two
years ago, we sacked about 200 workers due to
fraudulent activities, including theft. We are
waiting for the outcome of the present
investigation,” he said.