Unknown Bandits Attacked Aircraft Arriving From Istanbul

A Vistajet chartered jet was attacked on a runway and robbed in Lagos on December 12 as it taxied to a hangar after arriving from Istanbul, according to local media reports.

The Sahara Reporters website reports that after the aircraft landed last Tuesday at Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA) in Lagos, the captain of the aircraft, Emma Heering, found that the rear door of the aircraft had been opened and a large black bag belonging to Francesca Louis, the flight attendant on the flight, was missing.

And this was apparently not the first time such a theft had taken place, according to the report. Earlier this  year, some unidentified bandits somehow managed to open the rear door of a small aircraft that was taxiing and made off with something from inside the airplane.

A spokesperson for Vistajet confirmed the incident to Sahara Reporters, saying that someone had forced the door of the aircraft open while taxiing.

The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria is supposed to provide an escort vehicle for arriving aircraft, but the vehicle apparently is not always available for a variety of reasons, according to the report.

“It is bad that this is happening in an airport, which was recently certified by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has scaling security and safety hurdle," the source said. "The government should look at the incident and several others that have been happening in the airside because this is not the first time such a thing would be happening at the airport and several others across the country.”

(Image provided by Vistajet)

FMI: Original Report