FAAN denies attack on Royal Air Maroc, commences investigation

Aviation authorities have commenced investigation over the opening of the baggage compartment of a Royal Air Maroc aircraft which landed at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) in Lagos in the early hours of Friday.

The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) however denied that there was attack on the aircraft contrary to earlier media reports.

General Manager, Corporate Communications of FAAN, Mrs. Henrietta Yakubu clarified that the flight with registration number CN – ROR landed at the Airport at about 0404hours with its baggage cabin door opened.

Yakubu said Aviation Security officials escorted the aircraft upon landing.

She noted that preliminary report by the Aviation Security officials confirmed that all necessary security landing procedures were observed as the aircraft was landing and there was no invader around the aircraft.

However she explained that they suspected the opening “must have been as a result of force landing.”

“Further investigation revealed that all passengers on the flight got their luggage intact, except for a certain Tazi Larbi, whose luggage with tag number 829116 did not come on the flight because it was left in Morocco,” she said.

The FAAN spokesperson confirmed that appropriate agencies have commenced investigation into the incident to ascertain the cause.

“The aircraft pushed back at about 0530 hours and was airborne to Morrocco at 0540 hours,” she said.