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-
boundArik 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
airportsecurity 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 Airflight
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 toarrest the boy. As
the captain was making his final turn,
preparatory for take-off, a cabin crew
called his attention to theinformation
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. TheCaptain 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 wheelwell 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
withimpunity by not stopping the
aircraft to check when the crew and
ground personnel’s attention was
drawn to an abnormality on thetarmac.
This is arrant display of impunity. The
aircraft should not have taxied further,
but return to the apron until aproper
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
withapplicable sanctions.