BY OLAPEJU OLUBI
The management of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), has clarified that an airport worker being manhandled in a viral video by a passenger for allegedly trying to implicate him in a drug smuggling operation, is not its staff, but a Pathfinder company personnel who works at the Lagos airport.
In the said video, the supposed FAAN staff was forced to kneel and dazed with slaps by a miffed passenger for trying to use him to ferry drugs overseas.
In a statement, Mrs. Obiageli Orah, FAAN’s Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, further explained that the incident took place at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport on Tuesday, January 16, 2024, at about 1430hrs at gate 2 boarding gate at ITZ2.
The Authority wishes to set the records straight by stating that the officer being manhandled in the video is not a staff of FAAN, adding that he has been identified as a member of the staff of Pathfinder company.
The employee was said to have approached a passenger to help him convey a parcel through the flight.
When the passenger became sceptical, he raised an alarm, alleging that he was being set up for drug trafficking.
“The employee was immediately arrested for questioning by the Crime Investigation and Intelligence Unit of the Aviation Security Services.
“The passenger involved has since departed on Ibom Air to Accra while the medication with the name, NEW AGE GLUCOSAMINE CHONDROITIN SULFATE COMPLEX , has been taken to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency ( NDLEA) for further investigation.
“FAAN is dedicated to a drug-free society and has zero tolerance to drug peddling through her airports”, the statement added.
