The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has confirmed the bandit attack on the Kaduna Airport.
In a statement by its Acting General Manager Corporate Affairs, Mrs Faithful Hope-Ivbaze
The airport authority which regretted the attack, however said military personnel and the Crime investigation unit of its Aviation Security Department intervened, repelled the bandits, secured and restored normalcy to the airport.
“FAAN regrets to state that a group of bandits attacked the Runway 05 axis of Kaduna airport earlier in the day.
“However, a combined team of anti-banditry military personnel and Crime investigation unit of FAAN Aviation Security Department swiftly intervened for rescue operation, with one casualty reported in the incident. Normalcy has since been restored at the airport.The team also recovered two motorbikes abandoned by the bandits,” the statement said.
The statement added, “Additionally, heavy reinforcement team from the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) is on ground to ensure safety and security of airport workers/users. The FAAN AVSEC Department has equally released operational vehicles to the team for patrol purposes.”
The bandit attack and counter attack from the military were said to have prevented an AZMAN aircraft scheduled for Lagos from take-off because of exchange of fire between them.
However, the military was able to repel the attack and restored normalcy to the airport.
g to sporadic gun battle at the aerodrome as the Military repelled the attack from the criminals
source confirmed to Aviation Metric that a staff of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) was shot and killed by the bandits around the runway area of the airport.
An industry source which spoke to our correspondent said, ” the AZMAN aircraft on ground could not take off at about 12.30 pm because of the presence of the bandits by the runways of the airport.
“Though there is a heavy military presence to beef up security around the airport, but there is palpable apprehension among aviation staff who live in the staff quaters and their families after the NAMA security guard fell to the bandits bullets.
Acting Managing Director of NAMA, Mr. Lawrence Pwajok who also confirmed the attack and loss of a personnel said, “Yes it is true. bandits attacked our VHF omnidirectional range (VOR) equipment site at Kaduna Civil airport around 12noon today and shot our security man attached to the equipment and he later died from the gunshot. However, currently, the Air Force engaging the bandits in counter-offensive”.
A Very high-frequency Omni-directional range (VOR) Eis a type of short-range radio navigation system for aircraft, enabling aircraft with a receiving unit to determine its position and stay on course by receiving radio signals transmitted by a network of fixed ground radio beacons.
It would also be recalled that in March last year, suspected armed bandits, stormed the FAAN staff quarters at the Kaduna airport, and allegedly kidnapped an iunconfirmed number of persons.
FAAN has assured, where necessary, it would continue to give updates on the incident
