Flying Touareg
5th May 2007, 04:56
''Two Latvians, Selepins Valerits and Pozidajevs Jevgenijs were Thursday night arrested for fighting on board a KLM Flight 588, thereby creating panic and causing delay of the flight’s take-off flight from Lagos to Amsterdam.
KLM ejected them from the flight and hand them over to Crime Investigation Bureau (CIB) officers of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN).
Valerits told the CIB officials that Jevgenijs first assaulted him, because he woke him up. It was however gathered that Jevgenijs was believed to be drunk at the time.
Valerits said he had to fight back when he was attacked by Jevgenijs in the aircraft. But Jevgenijs said he could not remember what exactly happened but he could only recollect that he bumped into Valerits and they started the quarrel.
The two foreigners are said to be co-workers in the same company, BW Offshore Addax, in Port Harcourt. They were first detained in police custody on Thursday night, but were yesterday released to Addax officials by the CIB officials.
A source at the airport told THISDAY that the foreigners' embassy would be notified accordingly after due investigation. The source added that the Minister of State for Aviation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode takes safety and security at the nation’s airorts very seriously and “based on this, the ministry will not compromise the standards. These foreigners have infringed on the safety and security of the passengers. Therefore they should be made to account for their actions.”
We would not tolerate any thing that will infringe on safety and security of any of our operations," he said.
Also, a source at the Ministry of State for Aviation in Abuja yesterday told THISDAY that the matter would be taken seriously. "If it were to be in their own country, this is a major issue. We would not take it lightly. The offenders will be made to face the law regardless the country of their origin," the source ''
http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=77252
KLM ejected them from the flight and hand them over to Crime Investigation Bureau (CIB) officers of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN).
Valerits told the CIB officials that Jevgenijs first assaulted him, because he woke him up. It was however gathered that Jevgenijs was believed to be drunk at the time.
Valerits said he had to fight back when he was attacked by Jevgenijs in the aircraft. But Jevgenijs said he could not remember what exactly happened but he could only recollect that he bumped into Valerits and they started the quarrel.
The two foreigners are said to be co-workers in the same company, BW Offshore Addax, in Port Harcourt. They were first detained in police custody on Thursday night, but were yesterday released to Addax officials by the CIB officials.
A source at the airport told THISDAY that the foreigners' embassy would be notified accordingly after due investigation. The source added that the Minister of State for Aviation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode takes safety and security at the nation’s airorts very seriously and “based on this, the ministry will not compromise the standards. These foreigners have infringed on the safety and security of the passengers. Therefore they should be made to account for their actions.”
We would not tolerate any thing that will infringe on safety and security of any of our operations," he said.
Also, a source at the Ministry of State for Aviation in Abuja yesterday told THISDAY that the matter would be taken seriously. "If it were to be in their own country, this is a major issue. We would not take it lightly. The offenders will be made to face the law regardless the country of their origin," the source ''
http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=77252