FRESH facts emerged at the weekend over the disappearance of the Beechcraft 1900D plane which was flown out of the country on March 15 and was declared �missing� by air traffic agencies.
Sources in the aviation sector said the plane might have been flown out of the country through an unconventional route.
This was coming as it was revealed in Abuja that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had wanted to impound the said plane shortly after the May 29, 2007 handover of power by President Olusegun Obasanjo, but was stopped due to what was described as political exigencies.
According to the air traffic control documentation relating to the missing plane, the pilot was discovered to have flown from Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, on the fateful day through an unconventional route before deviating.
Nigerian Tribune gathered from the air traffic control documentation that the pilot flew out of Lagos airport on route 609 which took him to Benin and to connect Enugu while heading to Bebi/Obudu airstrip.
The report also disclosed that the pilot, instead of reporting at a familiar reporting point called LIPAR before connecting Bebi airstrip, called from an unconventional point.
The report further added that the pilot could choose another reporting point to the Bebi airstrip which is called LUNDO on Nigeria�s airspace chart.
The reporting which the pilot of the missing plane called is known as IKROP which, according to information, is normally used by aircraft leaving the country�s airspace or aircraft outside the country.
According to reports, IKROP is a reporting point between Nigeria and Cameroun.
Furthermore, the aircraft was said to have had four hours endurance fuel which could have taken it far outside Nigeria.
Further facts also emerged at the weekend that the EFCC had wanted to impound the Beechcraft 1900D shortly after the May 29 handover of power by President Olusegun Obasanjo but for what was described as political considerations.
The aircraft is said to belong to a former governor, who is currently being prosecuted by the EFCC at a Federal High Court.
Sources in Abuja told the Nigerian Tribune that information got to the EFCC early in 2007 that the former governor had transferred a large sum of money from Nigeria to the manufacturers of the plane.
It was gathered that the money was routed through Canada, prompting the Canadian authorities to write a letter to the anti-corruption agency to alert them to the possibility of an illicit money transfer from Nigeria.
A source said that when the letter came to the notice of the former Chairman of the EFCC, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, he took it to the then President Obasanjo and briefed him on the matter.
The source said that the transaction would have been stalled if the anti-graft agency had confirmed the suspicion of the Canadian authorities, but that it would not be in the position to repatriate the funds, because it would need to come up with further evidence to link the money with Nigeria.
Sources said that the then President advised that the EFCC should allow the transaction to go on and that it should only set machinery in motion to impound the plane when it eventually arrived on Nigerian soil.
It was further learnt that Ribadu had prepared his men to impound the plane shortly after Obasanjo left office, when it was clear that the aircraft in question had arrived in Nigeria, but that the political environment then denied the EFCC the opportunity.
A source described the �political environment� as the seemingly close relationship between the said former governor and the presidency of Alhaji 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 in the administration told the Nigerian Tribune.
It was gathered that the former governor got wind that the EFCC was perfecting court papers to apply for the seizure of the aircraft when the plane suddenly disappeared on March 15.