3rd September, 2013
Simon Ateba
A 25-year old man has been arrested at the Benin airport for attempting to gain access into the airside, Nigeria’s aviation authorities said on Monday, nine days after a teenager ran across the runway of the same airport, hid in the wheel well of an Arik plane and emerged unscathed in Lagos after a 35-minute flight.
The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, said Leroy Ugaga was arrested on Monday by a joint patrol team of FAAN’s Aviation Security Services and the Nigerian Air Force.
“The trespasser was sighted and observed for a few minutes by members of the patrol team as he tried to gain entry to the airside and as soon as his intentions became clear, he was quickly apprehended and handed over to the Police for further interrogation,” said Yakubu Dati, FAAN’s image maker.
Dati said a joint perimeter patrol by FAAN’s security staff and men of Nigerian Air force at the Benin Airport is one of the additional security measures taken by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria to forestall runway incursions at all Nigerian airports.
“The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria hereby appeals to all members of the public, especially youths, to avoid the risk of attempting to gain unauthorised entry into restricted areas of airports, across the country, as doing is now extremely dangerous,” Dati said, adding that trespassers are likely to be severely dealt with if the security patrols have cause to suspect violent intentions.
He did not say what violent intention did the suspect had nor did he disclose whether the suspect was targeting a specific plane at the time.