Passenger nabbed for ‘stealing N1m’ on board Air Peace flight

By Abubakar Yunusa

Air Peace says a passenger who boarded one of its flights allegedly stole N1 million from another passenger’s bag, but was caught.

Stanley Olisa, spokesperson of the airline, in a statement said the incident took place on board an Abuja-Port Harcourt flight P47192 on July 27.

Olisa said the suspect stole the amount contained in a brown envelope but was caught by the owner, with the intervention of the airline’s staff.

He said during the flight, the suspect also 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,” the airline’s spokesperson said.

“The suspect was one of the first few to disembark despite the announcement of proper disembarkation sequence by the crew.”

After the suspect was nabbed, Olisa said the money was retrieved, with different currencies in various denominations found on him.

He 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.

Olisa noted that the police later confirmed to have released the suspect on bail, adding that the chance of prosecution was slim as the owner of the money was unwilling to follow up.

The spokesperson, therefore, urged passengers to be more careful with their personal items on board.

“Air Peace staff would continue to be security conscious,” he said.