“A passenger named Ogenechuko David was apprehended on an Ibom Air flight from Lagos to Abuja for allegedly stealing a laptop from another passenger’s bag in the overhead cabin,” said Aniekan Essienette, the general manager of marketing communication at Ibom Air, in a statement.
The incident occurred on Wednesday, 26 July, when the owner of the stolen laptop noticed David acting suspiciously and decided to check on his laptop, only to find it missing. The alarmed passenger notified the crew members, leading to a search that caused about half an hour delay.
Eventually, the missing laptop was discovered with David, and it was promptly offloaded and handed over to the Federal Airport Authority (FAAN) Aviation Security (AVSEC) for further investigation. Subsequently, David was transferred to the Police for additional inquiry.
According to Ibom Air’s statement, the Police confirmed that the suspect is part of a larger syndicate specializing in stealing onboard aircraft. In response to the incident, the owner of the laptop voluntarily stepped down from the flight to cooperate with the investigation and pledged to follow up on the case to ensure its proper resolution.
Aniekan Essienette emphasized that Ibom Air has a zero-tolerance policy for such criminal activities on their flights and will pursue prosecution to the fullest extent of the law for any offenders involved.
