Police arrest two after smoking causes panic aboard aircraft

The Nigeria Police Force, Airport Command, has arrested 2 passengers who allegedly smoked cigarettes aboard an Air Peace formation from South Africa to Lagos, an enactment that triggered the aircraft’s fume detection and exigency alarm strategy and caused panic among passengers and unit members.

The suspects, identified arsenic 51-year-old Enaruna Prince Aghama and 43-year-old Tony Ajayi, were handed implicit to the International Airport Police Division by Aviation Security (AVSEC) unit aft the Air Peace formation landed astatine the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos, for further investigation.

A connection by the bid said the incidental occurred astatine astir 7:44 p.m. connected July 9, 2026, portion the Air Peace craft was travelling from South Africa to Lagos.

According to archetypal investigations, the 2 suspects allegedly lit and smoked cigarettes wrong the aircraft, an enactment that activated the aircraft’s fume detection and exigency alarm system, causing panic and anxiousness among passengers and members of the compartment crew.

The probe besides revealed that the suspects were successful possession of an alcoholic beverage and allegedly became uncooperative and verbally assertive erstwhile compartment unit members attempted to calm the concern and enforce...