Air Peace on Wednesday said a passenger on board one of its flights allegedly stole N1 million from another passenger’s bag, but was caught.
Mr Stanley Olisa, the spokesperson of the airline, said in a statement in Lagos that the incident took place on board Abuja-PHC flight P47192 on July 27.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that there have been reported cases of theft onboard aircraft involving different airlines operating in the country in recent times.
Olisa said that the suspect stole the amount contained in a brown envelope but was caught by the owner of the money, with the intervention of the airline’s staff.
He explained that during the flight, the suspect took another passenger’s computer bag from the overhead cabin.
“He, thereafter, 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”
Olisa said that the suspect was one of the first few to disembark despite the announcement of proper disembarkation sequence by the crew.
He said that the suspect was eventually caught and the money retrieved from him, with different currencies in different denominations found on him.
Olisa said the suspect was handed over to the security operatives of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), for onward transfer to the Police, for further investigations.
He said that the police later confirmed to have released him on bail, but said that the chance of prosecution was slim as the owner of the money was unwilling to follow up.
Olisa said that Air Peace staff would continue to be security conscious and urged passengers to be more careful with their personal items on board.
