Festus Keyamo, the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, has confirmed that the crew of the foreign-registered private jet that landed on a concrete road instead of the runway at Asaba Airport in June remain in the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS), describing the incident as a serious security breach.
Keyamo disclosed this on Thursday during an interview on Channels Television, saying investigations are ongoing to determine why the crew ignored air traffic control instructions and landed outside the airport perimeter.
The minister said the incident went beyond an aviation occurrence because the aircraft had been cleared to land on the airport runway, but instead touched down on a road outside the secured airport environment.
“The private jet incident was a security breach, and we are treating it as such. The pilots and crew are still in DSS custody, undergoing rigorous questioning to determine why they landed where they did,” he said.
According to him, the incident was unrelated to the airport’s navigational facilities, and he insisted that air traffic controllers properly guided the aircraft to the runway.
