The management of Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has said that the claim by one Mr. Olakunle Tayo Fapohunda that two officials of Aviation Security Corp (AVSEC) connived and pilfered the sum of £400 from his wallet while going through the scanning machine, was untrue.
FAAN, in a statement through its spokeswoman, Mrs Henrietta Yakubu, said that thorough investigation conducted on the allegation revealed that it was untrue.
“With respect to the allegation by Mr. Olakunle Tayo Fapohunda, that two officials of Aviation Security connived, and pilfered the sum of £400 from his wallet while going through the scanning machine on Wednesday, December 22, 2021,enroute London Heathrow on a Virgin Atlantic flight, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) will like to inform you that we have thoroughly investigated the allegation but found it to be untrue, as none of the two officers touched the tray as clearly shown by our Cctv footage,” said the statement.
It continued, “The only person who touched the tray was a NAHCO staff, that was immediately behind him, and only pushed the tray forward to create space for her bag to come out of the X Ray machine.”
The Airport Authority said it was able to establish that the allegation was not true because the CCTV footage showed that nobody touched anything in the tray throughout the stay of Mr Olakunle within the screening area.
“We were able to clearly establish that throughout Mr. Olakunle’s movement within the screening point, nobody removed anything from his tray,” FAAN insisted.
FAAN which however said that it would appreciate if the complainant would give a feedback on the development said: “While we appreciate this feedback and will like to express our appreciation to him for same, we will like to state that the Aviation Security Corp is a disciplined Corp, that has consistently recovered and returned many items forgotten or lost by passengers over the years.
“Although, we are mindful of the fact that it is not impossible to have a few bad eggs within the Corp, we will like to assure you that the Authority does not condone such acts of indiscipline, and we have conducted this investigation with utmost care and due diligence.”
The Airport Authority which however promised to make the contents of the CCTV footage public to clear any doubt in its findings, cautioned the general public on making unsubstantiated utterances which may ruin the careers of personnel wrongly accused.
“We are open to making the contents of the CCTV footage available to Mr. Olakunle in case he wants to see it.
“Finally, while advising that we all should be careful with making public unsubstantiated allegations because such acts are capable of ruining the lives and careers of those involved, we will like to reassure our esteemed passengers that our airports are safe and secure, and our officers will continue to discharge their duties efficiently and professionally.”
