Security Agents Arrested With $6m Cash At Lagos Airport

Security operatives attempting to committee a home formation with implicit $6.1 cardinal successful currency were arrested connected Saturday astatine the Murtala Muhammed International Airport Terminal 2 (MM2) successful Ikeja, Lagos.

The suspects whose nonstop fig remained unclear were intercepted during regular information checks arsenic they tried to committee an Aero Contractors flight.

According to aggregate airdrome sources, the operatives were recovered with respective boxes stuffed with undeclared US dollars.

“They had already passed done archetypal airdrome information units,” 1 root said. “But Aero Contractors’ unit became suspicious erstwhile they noticed the unusually dense boxes astatine the ft of the aircraft.”

The substance was instantly escalated to Aviation Security (AVSEC) officials, who successful crook handed the suspects implicit to the Department of State Services (DSS). The DSS aboriginal transferred them to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for further investigation, according to a elder authoritative of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN).

Another airdrome root disclosed that the individuals had claimed to beryllium information agents escorting a fishy and exhibits, a assertion that initially allowed them to bypass modular checks. However, their activities astatine the boarding gross raised suspicions erstwhile AVSEC officers insisted connected inspecting the oversized luggage.

Confirming the development, Managing Director of Aero Contractors, Ado Sanusi, told journalists that his airline’s information squad grew suspicious aft the men refused to cheque successful their dense bags.

“What happened was that our information noticed immoderate passengers trying to committee our craft with bags that were rather heavy,” Sanusi explained. “Our information squad advised them to cheque the bags in, arsenic they could not beryllium carried into the cabin. They refused to cheque the bags, and aboriginal they said it was money.”

“When asked if the wealth had been declared, they said no. At that point, our information unit discovered that the individuals were either constabulary officers oregon immoderate signifier of information agents, who claimed they were escorting a fishy on with exhibits. That was wherefore they resisted checking successful the bags,” helium added.

Sanusi emphasised that the hose has strict procedures for handling instrumentality enforcement unit transporting suspects oregon evidence.

He said: “If they were transporting a suspect, they were required to notify america successful advance. There are modular procedures for moving suspects—we don’t premix them with regular passengers. There are boarding, deboarding, and in-flight protocols that indispensable beryllium followed successful specified cases. Since they failed to travel these procedures, they were not allowed to board, and they yet left.”

Repeated attempts to scope the FAAN spokesperson, Henry Agbebire, and the Director of Aviation Security, Igbafe Afegbai, were unsuccessful arsenic they did not respond to calls oregon messages.

Similarly, the Head of Corporate Communications of Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited, operators of MM2, Ajoke Yinka-Olawuyi, could not beryllium reached for comments arsenic of the clip of filing this report.

The EFCC and DSS were yet to contented authoritative statements regarding the apprehension oregon the source of the funds.