Ibom Air says it has apprehended a suspect identified as Ogeneochuko David on its flight Q1300 for allegedly stealing another passenger’s laptop in the overhead cabin during a flight from Lagos to Abuja on July 26, 2023.
The company’s General Manager, Marketing and Communications, Aniekan Essienette, made this public in a statement made available to journalists in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State capital, on Thursday.
Ibom Air in the statement explained that the owner of the laptop, on suspecting the movement of David in the aircraft, decided to check where his laptop was kept and quickly raised alarm when he realised his item was missing .
“A search was immediately instituted, which led to about a half-hour delay, and the laptop was found with Mr David. He was immediately offloaded and handed over to the Federal Airport Authority (FAAN) Aviation Security (AVSEC) for further investigation, who then handed him over to the police for further investigation. The police have since confirmed that the suspect is a member of a large syndicate specialising in stealing onboard aircraft.” The statement read
Essienette also recalled how one Kingsley Chinsunum was alleged to have stolen the sum of N100,000 from a wallet kept inside a bag in the overhead cabin and how one Mr Adebayi Adelugba, staged the stealing of his own checked-in bag and declared it missing with the intent of suing the airline for negligence but was caught through CCTV footage.
“In line with our corporate policy, Ibom Air has zero tolerance for this sort of criminal activity on board our flights and will prosecute any offenders to the full extent of the law,” she warned.
