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Stowaway: NCAA directs Arik to review security arrangement

By BusinessNews Staff on March 19, 2015

The Director-General, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, Capt. Muhtar Usman, on Tuesday directed the management of Arik Air to review the existing security arrangement around its aircraft when not in operation.

This is in a bid to forestall the re-occurrence of stowaways finding their way onto aircraft parked at the nation’s airports in preparation for international flights.

Specifically, the airline operator was ordered to ensure the presence of static security guards at all times at its aircraft parking positions.

Usman noted that the directive was consequent upon the stowaway incident on Saturday involving an Arik aircraft with registration A340 CS-TX on a scheduled service to the JFK Airport in New York, United States.

The NCAA DG, in a statement issued by the agency’s General Manager, Public Affairs, Mr. Fan Ndubuoke, said, “In order to forestall any future occurrence and subsequent security breach, the airline needs to take urgent remedial actions.”

Airline operators and experts had told our correspondent that the recovery of the remains of a suspected stowaway in the undercarriage compartment of the Arik Air aircraft on Saturday highlighted the security lapses in airports across the nation.

According to them, such incidents pose high security risk to the aviation sector, especially at a time when many nations are being threatened by terrorists.

The body of the yet to be identified suspected stowaway was evacuated by the men of the Airport Police Command.

The regulatory agency, in the statement, further noted that it clearly recognised the clause in the airline’s Approved Air Operator Security Programme that the responsibility of securing aircraft when not in service was that of the operator.

“However, as evident with recent developments, increased capacity is required to safeguard aircraft,” Usman added.

He reiterated that static security guards must be continually deployed to the foot of the aircraft when not in operation.

He said the measure would subsist for now pending when all investigations on the incident were concluded.

“Thereafter adequate measures will be established and implemented by all concerned stakeholders,” the NCAA boss added.

When contacted, a senior official of Arik Air told our correspondent that he had yet to see the statement of the NCAA as of the time of filing this report.

[Punch]

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