The syndicated pilferage at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, is becoming worse as passengers now complain of missing luggage on arrival at the airport.
Blame over loss of baggage has been put at the doorsteps of the Nigerian Aviation Handling Company Plc and the Skypower Aviation Handling Company Limited, whose workers were alleged to be culpable.
Efforts to get reaction of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) failed as at press time.
The
stealing is fast taking the joy out of travel as many passengers last
week complained of luggage loss. The situation could also be put at the
doorsteps of FAAN, which primary duty is to ensure security at the
airports.
On
April 19, 2013, a Lagos-bound Arik Flight W3 108, which took off from
John F. Kennedy Airport in New York at 12. 35 pm, touched down at MMA
Lagos at 3.05 am on Friday morning (9hrs 30mins) after some frightening
hours of turbulence across the Atlantic Ocean only for nearly half of
the passengers to discover that movement of their luggage from the
aircraft to the conveyer belt was left in the hands of criminals working
as airport officials.
Some
of the victims, Patricia Nnaeke, Valentina Jummy, Opaleye Mukaila,
Adebayo Ariyo, Joy Tongo Olarenwaju Fasasi, Rev. Emma Umezinwa and
Abimbola Atta lost their baggage.
In
a joint statement made available to The Guardian yesterday, the group
said: "Bags were torn apart. Padlocks were destroyed. A young Nigerian
mother with her baby at the back found one of her bags completely
emptied of the contents. Some bags were not seen at all. A man lost all
the four laptops he bought from the U.S. A Catholic priest had his bag
ripped apart and had messages meant to be delivered to some families
carted away. And all this took place within 45 minutes of their arrival
when the conveyer started rolling out the bags".
According
to the statement, the passengers immediately reported to the
Immigration, Customs and Police officers in uniform, who did nothing but
watched as some passengers nearly ran mad with anger and frustration.
To
them, the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, which ought to be a
national image booster and monument welcoming all coming into the
country has become a place of national shame, official ineptitude and
syndicated robbery.
"This
was the point when one of the passengers took out his Ipad and started
recording the pandemonium, interviewing passengers and documenting
necessary evidence. The airport officials were constantly avoiding the
camera and at some point, wanted to intimidate the passenger who stood
his ground.
"Unknown
to those airport officials, the man was a Catholic priest with years of
media practice. There was another passenger (a victim too) who worked
for The Guardian. They quickly organised themselves and wrote the names
of the victims and some of the items lost just for the records. That
list was copied by an airport officer, by name Emwanta, who promised to
follow up on the recovery of the items".
Post a Comment