The
Federal Government, through the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, has
ordered the closure of all bureaux de change offices at the Murtala Muhammed
International Airport, Lagos, and the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport,
Abuja.
The
development followed the invasion of BDC offices at the Lagos airport on
Wednesday night by a gang of heavily armed robbers, leading to the killing of
two policemen and a robber.
General
Manager, Corporate Affairs, FAAN, Mr. Yakubu Dati, told reporters that the
Managing Director of the agency, Mr George Uriese, had ordered all the BDC
operators at the two airports to leave with immediate effect.
There
are scores of registered and unregistered BDC operators at the Lagos and Abuja
airports.
Dati
said, “As a remedy the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria has banned the
activities of bureau de change from the car park and other car parks at all the
airports across the country.
“The
report we are receiving is that it was the activities of bureaux-de- change
that attracted the armed robbers into the facility and so the Managing Director
of the Authority, Mr. George Uriesi has given an order to evacuate all the
bureau de change.
“We
have given them time to come and pick whatever they have here because at the
end of today they will never enter this car park again. Task force will move in
and evacuate them”
The
FAAN spokesman also said the government had beefed up security at the Lagos
airport with a combination of State Anti-Robbery Squad and Aviation Security
personnel.
According
to him, the development will lead to effective patrol of all the areas of the
Lagos airport premises.
Dati,
who led reporters around the scene of the robbery, said the operation was
carried several metres away from the terminal building of the airport.
As at
time of inspection, puddles of blood and three vehicles wrecked by bullets were
still seen at the area. The vehicles included a police van, a Mitsubishi four
wheel drive and a minibus.
The
windscreen and the windows of the police van were shattered by bullets and the
scene showed the gravity of the the Wednesday night’s attack.
Dati,
however, said that the agency had swung into action to prevent such incident
from happening again.
Source: Punch
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