The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, has said that its preliminary findings showed that none of its officers assaulted an Air Peace airline passenger and former BBNaija Housemate, Ms. Abiri Oluwabusayo Khloe, at the departure gate of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos in the early hours of Sunday.
The ex-BBNaija housemate had claimed in social media publications that a female NDLEA officer allegedly harassed and assaulted her.
But the NDLEA has faulted the harassment claim in a statement made available on Sunday by its Director, Media and Advocacy, Mr Femi Babafemi.
It added that further investigation on the matter is ongoing to enable it take necessary action.
The statement reads in part, “At about 12:20am on Sunday, December 5, during an outward clearance of passengers going to South Africa by Air Peace , a female passenger, Ms. Abiri Oluwabusayo Khloe, was asked to submit her luggage for a search, which is a regular procedure.
“In the course of searching her luggage, which contains about 8 handbags, Ms. Abiri who obviously came late for the flight as shown on CCTV footage became agitated and hurled a number of unprintable insults at the female officer searching her luggage.
“This attitude is naturally a red flag that would raise suspicion and equally taken as an attempt to distract the officer.
“Ms. Abiri went further to point fingers in the face of the officer and at the same time pulled out a phone to record the officer in the course of doing her work.
“At that point, the officer seized the phone from her to stop the distraction but that didn’t stop the passenger who brought out another phone to record their encounter.
“The aggrieved passenger and the public are assured that the NDLEA is a law enforcement agency that upholds discipline among its officers and men, and as such will take further steps to investigate any other evidence made available in the course of the ongoing process.”
