A teenager named Daniel
Ikehina unbelievably beat
airline and airport security at
the Benin airport today
Saturday August 24th and
sneaked into the tyre
compartment of a Lagos-
bound Arik flight. The boy
flew safely with the aircraft
which left Benin around 9am
today and landed at Murtala
Muhammed airport, hidden
throughout in the
undercarriage. He was
immediately arrested by
airport security after
passengers saw him
emerging from the aircraft
tyre hole.

Arik spokesman Banji Ola
explains what happened:
The management of Arik Air
has expressed shock over
the incident wondering how
the teenager beat the
Aviation Security personnel
at the Benin Airport to get to
the runway.

The pilot of Arik Air flight W3
544, departing Benin Airport
for Lagos at 9.00am today
24th August, 2013 reported
to the control tower the
presence of a strange boy in
the bush about 200 – 300
meters at the end of runway
23.

The control tower told the
Captain that they were
sending security men to the
place to arrest the boy.
As the captain was making
his final turn, preparatory
for take-off, a cabin crew
called his attention to the
information by some of the
passengers that they saw a
boy running towards the
airplane.

The First Officer confirmed
that they had observed it
earlier and alerted the
control tower which
responded that they have
sent the patrol team to
arrest the boy. The Captain
again reported to the control
tower and was informed that
the situation was under
control and that he had been
cleared for take-off.

On arrival at the domestic
wing of MMA, Lagos, a
teenage boy, who apparently
had sneaked into the aircraft
main wheel well jumped out
and was arrested by Arik
personnel and handed over
to FAAN security.
Meanwhile the Federal
Airport Authority of Nigeria
(FAAN) blamed Arik Air for
the incident.
FAAN said in a statement:
"Arik Air acted with impunity
by not stopping the aircraft
to check when the crew and
ground personnel’s attention
was drawn to an abnormality
on the tarmac. This is arrant
display of impunity. The
aircraft should not have
taxied further, but return to
the apron until a proper
check is carried out on all
parts of the aircraft. FAAN
will not tolerate such impunity
henceforth from Arik or any
airline. Any violation would
be met with applicable
sanctions.
Source www.lindaikeji..com/2013/08/teanager-flies-arik-air-from-benin-to.htm_medium=twitter&m=1

In Nigeria, we like pulling belated approach. What if the boy was armed. We never can tell, other air disasters in the past would have been nipped in the bud had the right precaution been taken. Again, it reminds one of lackadaisical attitude of our security agents that failed to avert the spread of boko haram. On the other hand, guiness book of records things.