A private jet belonging to ANAP Jets, owned by entrepreneur Atedo Peterside, has been vandalised by robbers at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos.

According to a source at the airport, some unidentified persons opened the cargo hold of an arrival private jet and stole a bag.

After the aircraft landed, ATC Avition Services asked the aircraft to hold for traffic reasons. However, while the aircraft was holding, some thieves popped out from the bush and opened the cargo hold door, stealing a bag.

According to airport standard procedure, there should be an escort van to tail all arriving and departing aircraft prior take-off or entry into the ramp. But there were no vehicles to escort this aircraft.

This is not the first time in recent years that an aircraft will be robbed at the airport. In February 2018, burglars attacked an Air Peace aircraft at the airport while it was taxiing for takeoff to Abuja. 

The aircraft, a Boeing 737, was attacked at about 7:35 pm by unknown bandits on the domestic runway of the airport. The forced opening of the cargo of the aircraft led to delay in the departure of the aircraft for close to two hours, as security operatives attached to the airport searched the airplane before allowing it depart the airport.

In December 2017, a private jet conveying two top Nigerian musical artistes, Ayodeji Ibrahim Balogun, better known as Wizkid, and Tiwa Savage from Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, was robbed at the airport while taxiing on the runway.

The aircraft, a Bombardier Challenger 605 jet with Registration Number T7-A00, arrived Lagos at about 8:33pm and was slowly taxiing to the arrival hangar when the cargo compartment was burgled.

Two weeks earlier, a business jet from Istanbul that arrived the Lagos airport to pick a passenger was also attacked on the same taxiway.