Govt releases Virgin Atlantic's plane after UK's intervention
By Wole Shadare and Bola Tolu-Kusimo
AFTER some top level talks between the Nigerian government and its United Kingdom counterpart, the Virgin Atlantic aircraft which was impounded on Wednesday after one of its crew members was arrested with cocaine, was released yesterday.
The plane left with its passengers about 3.00 p.m.
The Guardian learnt that President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua was upset by the incident, especially because the suspect, Muhammed Ibrahim Wudil, is a Nigerian and that the embarrassment came just about the time that the country is on an image-cleansing drive.
Sources told The Guardian that the release of the aircraft followed intervention in the matter by British authorities.
The Nigerian representative of the Virgin Group, John Adebayo, said that the scandal had seriously put a question mark on the Federal Government's determination to provide security at the nation's airports.
The airline's chief stated that the efforts of former President Olusegun Obasanjo and the Senior Special Assistant to President Yar'Adua, Captain Shehu Iyal, that more Nigerians be employed by international carriers might have been defeated with the last development.
He, however, apologised to Nigerians and the passengers for the action of the suspect. "We are sorry for the inconveniences caused by Wudil not only to Nigerians but to the airline. We do not condone this action, it is condemnable," he said.
He described the suspect as the best crew member of the carrier, adding that the plane had been cleared, with all the papers checked.
Meanwhile, the airline has said that it would work closely with the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) to reduce the chances of a re-occurrence of the incident.
Speaking to journalists at their country office in the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), the country manager for the airline, Mrs. Samantha Olsen, said that her organisation would fully co-operate with the NDLEA on the short and medium term.
She said: "We are fully co-operating with the authorities and they have asked us to do thorough hand searches as well as all the other searches that the cabin crew go through on all hand luggage that they take on board the aircraft.
"So, we've started that as of today and that will happen to all our crew from here on so they'll go through the normal airport passenger checks, through our security checks."
Olsen also hinted that the airline is working with the Director-General's office to come up with a more medium term plan by looking at the equipment that they could help the NDLEA with to improve the agency's efficiency.
She said that the airline was extremely sad about the incident, which took place on Wednesday afternoon but stated that her organisation's number one priority was to make sure that their passengers are very well treated during the entire process.
The airline's country manager said that the suspect had been suspended by the airline but that his fate lay solely in the hands of the Nigerian authorities.