Market News

BY  Chinedu Eze 

The cabin crew members of Air Peace on Tuesday foiled an attempt by a man and a woman to traffic two babies at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Terminal 2, Lagos. According to the statement by the spokesperson of the airline, Stanley Olisa, who revealed that Air Peace’s Passenger Service Executives and Security Personnel became suspicious when the two adults, travelling to Asaba, were being checked-in at the counter.

“On June 7, 2021, at MMA2, around 12:00 hours, a man and a woman, carrying two babies, approached our counter for check-in. Our Passenger Service Executive, being suspicious of the duo’s behaviour, questioned them about the babies. They said the babies belonged to them and were travelling to Asaba,” he added.

Olisa narrated that as the suspicion intensified, the two adults, who hinted that the babies were three months old each, were further questioned by another counter attendant and a security personnel but they gave a different narrative.

“The two adults gave conflicting explanations to different staff- that the babies were being taken to United Kingdom to unite them with their parents and later they said they were sending the babies to Zimbabwe for adoption,” he added, while also commending the staff for preventing the crime. Upon further questioning, Olisa said the adults confessed that they were not the parents of the babies.

Consequently, Air Peace’s Security Unit took both of them to the MMA2 Police Station where they admitted they were agents who trafficked children for adoption.

The Police said they would transfer the case to the National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) for further investigation and action.

It can be recalled that Air Peace crew recently prevented two child trafficking schemes in June 2018, on a Lagos–Banjul flight and in January 2019 on a Lagos-Port Harcourt flight respectively.