But for the vigilance of a Dana Air hostess on the afternoon Lagos-Abuja flight of Tuesday February 9, 2016, the nation may have been plunged into yet another bout of mourning and anxiety as a bag containing four fully loaded guns was impounded inside the aircraft just before take-off.
Curiously, the bag containing the guns did not pass through the usual airport security checks, raising suspicion of the intent of the owners of the gun. The guns were said to have been brought into the aircraft as hand luggage of a passenger who was wheeled into the plane having his left bandaged from shoulder to the fingers; same with his left leg. The passenger who was said to have manifested some strange behaviour told aircraft attendants that he was unable to walk on his feet and had to be assisted with a wheel chair.
A passenger inside the aircraft narrated the incident thus: “Help me thank God that the Dana plane I boarded to Abuja landed safely in Abuja instead of the “breaking news” that would probably have announced that Dana plane with xyz passengers enroute Abuja was hijacked and flown to abc country.
“We boarded the plane scheduled to take off at 1.23 pm. However, one of the air hostesses became suspicious of one of the passengers who was earlier brought into the plane on a wheelchair with left hand bandaged from shoulder to the fingers, same with his left leg.
“The hostesses suspicion arose from the discovery that the man’s hand luggage was not passed through the security screening machines. To cut a long story short the airport security team was invited and the bag opened. It was reported that four fully loaded guns were in the bag.
“The ‘sick/injured’ man insisted he could not stand/walk. A wheel chair was brought in by the security team to take him out. An accomplice was also offloaded from the plane.
“The pilot then apologized profusely for the 37 minutes delay due to security breach, saying we should be thankful as ‘it is better to be delayed than to be sorry’. He then went on rendering beautiful songs (not religious songs anyway) from taxing to take off to the delight of passengers who were all praising God”.
