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| Malam Aminu Kano International Airport |
A special task force of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has been mandated to investigate some staffers of the authority that were fingered in the recent drug trafficking saga at the Kano International Airport.
The authority has also said all workers found wanting of similar embarrassments would face the music.
Two Nigerians were recently implicated in a drug trafficking scandal in Saudi Arabia, but were later cleared of having no knowledge of the illicit baggage stuffed under their names. An intervention by the presidency freed the two Nigerians, one of which is Zanab Aliyu.
General Manager, Public Affairs FAAN, Henrietta Yakubu, said the report of the special task force, set-up by the Managing Director of FAAN, would determine the commensurate punishment to all culpable.
Yakubu said the agency was disturbed over allegation against her staffers. However, the incident has awakened FAAN to tighten security, which has led to the agency evolving means of curtailing future occurrence.
She disclosed that FAAN has moved the operation of unaccompanied luggage to the newly created cargo section for proper tagging while comprehensive profiling of background passengers and baggage handlers have commenced.
Yakubu disclosed that six sniffer dogs have also been deployed to the Kano airport, while more metal walk-through screening detectors, from entrance to terminal before boarding the aircraft, have been installed.
She explained that the action was to ensure that no passenger pass through the airport with drug adding that the agency has intensified surveillance on baggage handlings under aviation security supervision.
Yakubu said that there has been an improvement of Close Circuit Television at the single interface desk to capture the area, adding that FAAN is working with the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in this area.
She noted that it was the responsibility of the NDLEA to install drug detecting machines at airports and not FAAN.
“The Federal Government has made recommendation for additional sophisticated scanners to be brought into the country to complement the existing ones. They will be installed as soon as they arrive, and drugs will be detected,” she said.
She advised passengers not to assist anyone to carry any form of bag at the airport and to get to the airport two hours before boarding to avoid unnecessary pressure.
