BY: OLAPEJU OLUBI
Management of Air Peace Airlines has announced the arrest of one Mr. Vitalis Nwabuzor for stealing one million naira (N1m) on-board Abuja-PortHarcourt flight P47192 on July 27, 2023.
Recently, there have been an increase in cases of theft onboard aircraft on domestic flights.
Confirming the theft, Air Peace Spokesperson, Stanley Olisa in an official statement issued Wednesday explained that Nwabuzor stole the said amount contained in a brown envelope but was caught by the owner of the money and with the intervention of the airline’s staff.
According to Olisa; “During the flight, Nwabuzor took another passenger’s computer bag from the overhead cabin, took the brown envelope containing the money, put the computer bag in another luggage compartment and moved to an empty seat at the back of the aircraft”.
“He was one of the first few to disembark despite the announcement of proper disembarkation sequence by the crew. He was eventually caught and the money retrieved from him. Different currencies in different denominations were found on him”, the statement said.
The spokes person noted that the accused was handed over to the security operatives of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, for onward transfer to the Police for further investigations, adding that the police confirmed to have released him on bail and said the chance of prosecution is slim as the owner of the money is unwilling to follow up.
Olisa stressed that Air Peace staff will continue to be security conscious and urged passengers to be more careful with their personal items on board.
