Following the latest runway blockade at Lagos airport, the police have seized five Air Peace vehicles for investigation, up from three.
The vehicles, which are presently under police possession, are designated AJJ 589EX, KTU 440EZ, AAA 831F, KTU 85FH, and EPE 656HF, according to reports.
The development came after an event where some people who were thought to be Air Peace employees allegedly parked cars on the Lagos airport’s airside, obstructing the efficient flow of aircraft.
The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria pulled three Air Peace busses into police custody after they were discovered parked in a way that could impede airport operations.
The investigation revealed that, despite the police’s initial confirmation that three cars had been seized, the actual number had increased to five.
Five Air Peace vehicles are currently under police custody, according to Muhammed Adeola, the Nigeria Police’s Airport Command spokesperson.
According to Adeola, the police had called Air Peace as part of the investigation and requested that the airline provide the drivers who drove the cars to the airport’s sensitive area.
He stated that the airline, however, asserted that some imposters may have been accountable for the purportedly disruptive behavior involving the vehicles and pledged to carry out an internal inquiry to find the culprits.
Adeola stated that Air Peace had not yet given the police the results of its inquiry as of the time this article was filed. He further stated that unless the airline provided the drivers who drove them, the cars would be in police custody.
“Yes, you are right; there are five in our compound,” he replied. We met with Air Peace at the beginning of our investigation and anticipated that they would give us the drivers. However, they informed us that they thought some saboteurs must have operated their cars.
After that, they pledged to carry out an internal investigation and give us the identity of the bus driver. The cars will be in our hands until then because we need to identify the people who tried to interfere with the efficient operation of the airport.
The event happened in the midst of an industrial action by aviation unions over Air Peace’s purported failure to pay the legally mandated five percent Ticket Sales Charge to the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority.
Travel plans were thrown off, and passengers were forced to find other ways to get about after Air Peace’s operations at the airports in Lagos and Abuja were grounded. Due to allegations that Air Peace was the biggest debtor of money owed to the NCAA, the unions had singled it out.
The unions had threatened to boycott flights who allegedly neglected to pay the five percent TSC to the NCAA in three phases of warnings prior to the move. Additionally, the unions claimed that several domestic airlines had made it difficult for workers to openly join trade unions, saying that workers were reluctant to show interest in doing so out of fear of victimization or discrimination.
However, the unions said they had given the impacted airlines several weeks to address the problems and characterized the industrial action as a restraint.
Efe Osifo-Whiskey, the airline’s spokesperson, did not answer questions about the issue, therefore attempts to receive a response from the airline were futile.
