Thirty years after, the failed kidnap of a former Minister of Transport, Alhaji Umaru Dikko, from Stanstead Airport, London, remains a talking point in Britain-Nigeria diplomatic relations. When the Buhari-Idiagbon coup sacked the Alhaji Shehu Shagari-led civilian government on December 31, 1983, Nigerians trooped to the streets to celebrate the demise of a Second Republic administration largely conceived as corrupt, inept and visionless. On the second day of assuming power, tough-looking Maj.-Gen Muhammadu Buhari, reeled out a list of alleged corrupt individuals in the defunct Shagari government, which was inaugurated on October 1, 1983 – for a second term in office. Dikko, an eloquent, charismatic and flamboyant leader of the National Party of Nigeria topped the list.

A plan to kidnap and bring Dikko from exile to answer for alleged corruption charges was in the offing. Dikko, a son in-law to Shagari, was eventually traced to Number 49 Porchester Terrace, London, on July 5, 1984 by a team of undercover agents suspected to be from Israeli national intelligence agency, Mossad. He was kidnapped in a most dramatic fashion, anaesthetised, crated and driven to Stanstead Airport, London for transportation to Nigeria.

A political historian, Max Siollun, said on a website, ‘Nigerians in America,’ that the “plans for Dikko’s capture were assembled by a small team. It involved making arrangements to capture, anaesthetise and then transport Dikko out of the United Kingdom to Nigeria to face trial. Dr. Levi-Arie Shapiro was a 43-year-old Israeli national, a consultant anaesthetist and director of the intensive care unit at Hasharon Hospital in Tel Aviv. Shapiro was recruited by a 27-year-old Mossad field officer named Alexander Barak.”

A major reason why the illegal transportation of Dikko failed was the action taken by his secretary, Elizabeth Hayes, who after witnessing how her principal was bundled into a yellow van, dialled 999 – UK’s emergency services number. Given Dikko’s profile as a former government minister, the call was quickly acted upon and within minutes police had arrived at the scene, closely followed by officers from Scotland Yard’s anti-terrorist squad. The Foreign Office and the Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, were also alerted. All customs officials at airports, ports and border crossings were told to be extra vigilant with regard to Nigeria-bound vessels.

Siollun quoted Barak during an interview by Israel’s best-selling newspaper, Yedioth Ahronoth, as saying, “In retrospect, I found out that the main culprit had been Group Captain (Bernard) Banfa, formerly head of the Nigerian Air Force. This guy was supposed, according to the plan, to meet at 9am with Yusufu and Dr. Shapiro at an apartment in London and give th em the right documents and join us to supervise the loading of the diplomatic crates at Stanstead Airport. But at the last minute, Banfa got cold feet.” Siollun further said, “The absence of the correct diplomatic documents would come back to haunt the kidnappers. A customs officer named Charles Morrow noticed an unusual medical smell (probably the powerful medical anaesthetic sodium pentathol) and a noise emanating from one of the crates. Although the 707 plane was minutes away from take-off, this gave Morrow an excuse to use red tape to get a closer look at the crates. On the pretext that the crates did not have the correct official seal, Morrow insisted on having a closer look at them.”

Ahmadu Yusufu was a 40-year-old former army officer posted to Nigeria’s High Commission in the UK in May 1984 by the Buhari-Idiagbon military government.

Major Yusufu protested furiously that the crates were protected by diplomatic immunity and could not be searched. His vehement protests were dismissed and the customs officers opened the crates with a crowbar. What they found inside was shocking. In the first crate was a bound and unconscious Dikko. Dikko’s captors had shoved an endo-tracheal tube in his throat to prevent him from choking on his own vomit. Beside him was Shapiro brandishing syringes and a supply of additional anaesthetics with which to administer replenishments to Dikko. Abithol and Barak were found in the second crate. Dikko was rushed to Hertfordshire and Essex Hospital in Bishops Stortford. He regained consciousness at midday the following day having been unconscious for 36 hours.

The Nigerian Airways 707 was detained by the police and was not permitted to take off. Seventeen people were arrested on suspicion of complicity in Dikko’s kidnap. The 17 suspects included the 707 crew, Abithol, Barak and Yusufu. Nigeria retaliated swiftly. Forty-five minutes after a British Caledonian Boeing 747 flight took off from Lagos, it was ordered back “for security reasons.”

The plane’s 222 passengers were allowed to disembark and leave the airport, but the plane was held. This led to days of long standoff between Britain and Nigeria until Britain released the Nigerian Airways 707 plane and Nigeria eventually released the British Caledonian plane. However, the damage had already been done and diplomatic relations between the two countries became badly strained.

The Nigerian and Israeli governments never admitted any connection to the incident. Of the original 17 suspects, four were tried. The defendants argued that they were mercenaries acting on behalf of Nigerian businessmen. The judge did not believe them and was convinced that Mossad was involved. The judge told the jury that “The finger of involvement almost certainly points to Mossad.” While Barak bagged 14 years imprisonment, Yusufu got 12 years and Shapiro was handed 10 years even as Abithol got 10 years.

Funny enough exactly 30 years later Umaru Dikko would still make that trip from london to Nigeria in a wooden crate on tuesday July 8 unconcious this time as a corpse .

idupaul: Funny enough exactly 30 years later Umaru Dikko would still make that trip from london to Nigeria in a wooden crate on tuesday July 8 unconcious this time as a corpse .

How ironic! I wonder what the Buhari-Idiagbon government would have done to him had they succeeded then. He probably would have taken this 'trip' much earlier.