Lagos (AFP) - Nigeria's aviation authorities on Wednesday said there was no evidence for the US claim that one of its air marshals was attacked as he tried to board a flight in Lagos.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said on Monday that the marshal, who was on duty, was attacked with a syringue on Sunday and was undergoing treatment in Houston, Texas.

A spokesman for the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Yakubu Dati, said in a statement that officials were aware of the reports and had been in contact with US diplomats.

A security team from the US mission in Nigeria had reviewed security camera footage from the Lagos airport of the air marshal, he said.

But he added: "Preliminary observation from the CCTV (closed-circuit television) footage did not show evidence of such (an) occurrence."

A US embassy spokesman in Nigeria declined to comment when asked by AFP about the footage, and referred to an earlier statement by US State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf.

Harf told reporters in Washington on Monday: "We can confirm reports that an unknown assailant injected a substance into the arm of a US federal air marshal at the airport in Lagos, Nigeria."

US law enforcement agencies were collaborating with their Nigerian counterparts to investigate the incident, she added. The FBI said the marshal was not in danger.

The incident raised fears the syringe could have carried some form of the Ebola virus because Nigeria is one of the West African countries where the deadly epidemic has spread.

Eight people have been killed and dozens infected with the fever in the current outbreak, which has killed nearly 2,300 in three other West African states.


http://news.yahoo.com/nigeria-says-no-evidence-us-air-marshal-attacked-110716099.html

I knew the american were lying through their teeth. Especially given the fact that these air marshals often blend in with the crowd, so for some guy to have picked him out for an attack is more than strange.

Beautiful nonsense, American marshal my as$, bundles of idiotic arrogant liars.

A mere fable from the horse mouth wouldn't make a single difference. You've got no “solid evidence”, then no dragging whatsoever - so case adjorned, nah closed.

This is the leader in 'Weird News Story Of The Day' contest. The kind of story that raises more questions than it answers. Air Marshal attacked? Thought they were usually armed. Unknown assailant? How come they picked the USA Air Marshal? Injection as means of attack? Possible ebola? Why not just plain old stabbing? Need a lot more details to understand this.

The whole thing was so bizarre. Actually, on a discussion board like Niraland where so many articles would look most fitting on the cover of magazines on the coffee table of characters in the twilight zone, this tale looked the most fortean of all.

Fûckin Anericans, always trying to portray Africans ( especially Nigerians) in a bad light.

I knew from the inset that the US Marshall was lying.