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Abuja-Lagos plane hijack aborted
� Oshiomhole, security agents
on board
� NCAA may sanction
airliner
By Rotimi
Durojaiye
Aviation
Correspondent, Lagos
Nightmares of the last plane
hijack on Nigerian skies 11 years ago were stirred last Thursday when a
strange pistol, a veritable tool for air piracy, appeared on an aircraft
on the Abuja-Lagos route, having slipped through all the security checks
before take off.
Pandemonium on board was
averted only by the wisdom of the pilot who calmed frayed nerves by
informing the passengers that he was turning mid air back to Abuja with
the explanation that the plane had developed technical
fault.
None of them knew of the
present and immediate danger lurking among them until they were safely
back on the ground. The bewildered passengers included Nigeria Labour
Congress (NLC) President Adams Oshiomhole and federal security
agents.
Strangely enough, three days
after the incident, the local airline operator (name withheld) was yet to
officially report it on Sunday and now stands the risk of being sanctioned
by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) for failure to file a
mandatory occurrence report (MOR) stipulated by the Air Navigation Rule
(ANR).
Dangerous weapons such as
water cell batteries, guns, knives, fireworks and flares are not allowed
on board aeroplanes.
The incident happened 10
minutes after take-off from the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport,
Abuja when the flight was already 100 nautical miles
away.
Sources disclosed that a
member of the crew discovered
the pistol on the aisle and quickly alerted the pilot who, in turn,
informed the passengers that the plane had developed technical
fault.
None of the passengers claimed
ownership of the weapon. An aviation expert insisted though that it must
have been smuggled in with intention to use it to hijack the
aircraft.
Our source said the pilot used
his wisdom and experience to return the plane to Abuja before he had lost
contact with air traffic controllers (ATC).
He got in touch with the Abuja
tower and was cleared for landing.
�In a situation where you
never dreamt of being hijacked, you have to be extra cool to think of
everything, especially Transponder 7500�, a source quoted him as
saying.
A clear picture of what
happened on the flight was later unfolded to a few passengers, including
Oshiomhole and security
officials, when the plane was on the ground � and the news caused a
stir.
�The pilot did not make a
distress call�, said our source.
The �Distress and Urgency
Procedure� of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) states
that in case of an emergency, specifically air piracy (hijack), the pilot
of the hijacked aircraft is to apply a special coded distress signal with the use of words and
or transmitter stating �Transponder Seven Five Zero Zero�, which means �I
am being hijacked/forced to a new destination�.
NCAA Director General�s Media
Assistant Sam Adurogboye said the authority was yet to receive the report
of the incident, however, he stressed that the pilot did the right thing
by returning the flight to base.
Failure to report such an
incident violates the ANR and Adurogboye said it would be investigated. He
wondered how the pistol slithered through the screening by the Federal
Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and officials of the airline at the
boarding gate.
In November 1993, four air
pirates (Kenney Rasaki, Oluwa Daisi, Richard Ogundero and Kabir Adenuga),
hijacked a Nigeria Airways Airbus A310 flying from Lagos to
Abuja.
It was diverted to Niamey,
capital of Niger Republic, where the hijackers doused it with petrol and
threatened to set it ablaze.
They later made a charter of
demands which they said must be met within 72 hours. One was that the
Interim National Government (ING), headed by Ernest Shonekan, should hand
over power to the National Assembly.
They also demanded that the
government should fish out looters of the economy who �included 3,000
government officials who stashed away $33 billion in Swiss
accounts�.
The four young men, members of
the Movement for the Advancement of Democracy (MAD), were later
repatriated to Nigeria on political grounds.
Air piracy or hijack,
according to the Geneva Convention of 1958, is any illegal act of violence, detention or any
act of depredation committed for private ends and directed against a
commercial airline or
aircraft or against its passengers.
Nigeria is a signatory to the
convention. It allows countries to decide on
penalties.
The Civil Aviation (Fire and
Security Measures) Act 1990 in Nigeria states in Part 111 Section 18 that:
�Any person who by any unlawful act obstructs, causes an alteration to be
made in the course of or in any way whatsoever hinders or impedes the
movement of any aircraft, which is in motion on, or in flight over any
aerodrome, shall be liable to imprisonment for two years�.
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