Air Peace crew get awards for foiling inflight theft

Air Peace crew has been recognised with five Awards of Excellence for thwarting an attempt by one Eze Kelvin to steal a considerable amount of money belonging to Adedeji Adeniyi, the managing director of Toptech Engineering Limited.

Spokesperson of the airline, Stanley Olisa, who said the incident occurred on a 7:40am Accra-Lagos flight on July 17, 2021, revealed that the crew who operated the flight have been conferred with awards by the Management of Toptech Engineering Limited in recognition of their outstanding customer service and extra-vigilance in ensuring the protection of items on-board as well as customer safety.

The awardees are Otobo Ogheneochuko, Pilot-in-Command; First Officer Phina Uzama-Okpalaeke; Olufemi Basanya, Lead Crew; and Amira Nwagui, Cabin Executive. A separate Award of Excellence was also bestowed on Air Peace.

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According to Olisa, our crew noticed Kelvin taking an envelope of money from Adeniyi’s laptop bag in the overhead cabin. Aware of the former’s theft antecedents, our crew subtly questioned him about the ownership of the bag, which he claimed was his. But when Adeniyi returned from the lavatory, it was confirmed that the bag belongs to him.

Adeniyi later disclosed that the envelope had a significant sum, which was still intact when Kelvin returned the envelope.

Olisa stated that the incident was immediately reported to the Airport security officials who are handling it, and added that Kelvin has been blacklisted from flying with Air Peace.

It can be recalled that in June this year, the Air Peace crew demonstrated commendable security alertness and vigilance as they prevented the trafficking of two babies by a couple.

Ifeoma Okeke-Korieocha

Ifeoma Okeke-Korieocha is the Aviation Correspondent at BusinessDay Media Limited, publishers of BusinessDay Newspapers. She is also the Deputy Editor, BusinessDay Weekender Magazine, the Saturday Weekend edition of BusinessDay. She holds a BSC in Mass Communication from the prestigious University of Nigeria, Nsukka and a Masters degree in Marketing at the University of Lagos. As the lead writer on the aviation desk, Ifeoma is responsible and in charge of the three weekly aviation and travel pages in BusinessDay and BDSunday. She also overseas and edits all pages of BusinessDay Saturday Weekender. She has written various investigative, features and news stories in aviation and business related issues and has been severally nominated for award in the category of Aviation Writer of the Year by the Nigeria Media Nite-Out awards; one of the Nigeria’s most prestigious media awards ceremonies. Ifeoma is a one-time winner of the prestigious Nigeria Media Merit Award under the 'Aviation Writer of the Year' Category. She is the 2025 Eloy Award winner under the Print Media Journalist category. She has undergone several journalism trainings by various prestigious organisations. Ifeoma is also a fellow of the Female Reporters Leadership Fellowship of the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism.