THE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has taken over the investigation into the circumstances under which the Beechcraft 1900D aircraft disappeared and was flown out of the country on March 15.
Top sources at the anti-graft body disclosed to the Nigerian Tribune that it was an embarrassment to the country that an aircraft disappeared into thin air without a trace.
The sources revealed that the EFCC would quiz some authorities in the aviation industry over the incident to get what exactly happened and determine why the disappearance of the aircraft looked more like a conspiracy than an accident.
�Aircraft control staff were on duty on the day in question. Some security officials were there and we need to hear from them. How come the plane that was going to Obudu in Cross Rivers State suddenly disappeared?� one of the sources told the Nigerian Tribune.
According to the source, �this is a very serious matter because it breaches the security of the nation, as it means any aircraft can fly into the country and fly out again without proper scrutiny. If proper investigation is not carried out, a more serious issue could happen in any of the nation�s airports.�
The source confirmed that the EFCC was perfecting its papers to impound the aircraft before its sudden disappearance.
Nigerian Tribune gathered that the commission suspected that it was because the information of its plan to impound the aircraft filtered out that made the owners of the aircraft to hurriedly fly it out of the country.
The EFCC source said that the commission was set to scrutinise all flight schedules and manifests of March 15 to find out how the plane disappeared through an unconventional route.
�The anti-graft body is very serious about the issue because it is going to affect our case against the former governor who is facing charges before a Federal High Court and we are not going to leave any stone unturned,� the source added.
Nigerian Tribune further gathered that the commission was ready to dispatch its operatives in search of the aircraft and the crew members in any of the African countries.
Nigerian Tribune had exclusively reported on Friday that the �missing� plane was actually flown out of the country, contrary to the earlier claim of traffic agencies that it was missing.
It was reported the aircraft belonged to a former governor who the EFCC is currently prosecuting and who had allegedly transferred a large sum of money from Nigeria to the manufacturers of the plane through Canada.
The Canadian authorities had written a letter to the anti-corruption agency to alert it to the money transfer.
It was based on this that the EFCC had wanted to impound the plane shortly after former President Olusegun Obasanjo handed over to President Umaru Yar�Adua on May 29, 2007, but was prevented from doing so due what was described as �political exigencies�.
A source had described the �political environment� as the seemingly close relationship between the said former governor and President Umaru Yar�Adua.
�The former governor�s rising profile at the beginning of this administration did not provide easy clues to the way things should go. He was even in the thick of the forces planning to see to the exit of the former EFCC chairman from the anti-graft body, and he seemed to have free access to the President, so it became complex for Ribadu to go after him,� a source had said.
Air traffic documentation had shown that the pilot of the aircraft flew out of Lagos on route 609 which took him to Benin to connect Enugu while heading to the Bebi/Obudu airstrip.