Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, has revealed that some owners and operators of private aircraft in the country use them for money laundering, drug trafficking and other illegal activities.
He made the revelation in Abuja on Thursday, when he inaugurated a ministerial taskforce to checkmate illegal chartered operations in the country.
According to the minister, these illegal activities have made the sector lose billions of dollars and raised serious security concerns.
Keyamo further stated that some of those involved in the illegal activities are those who acquired licenses for non-commercial flights operations but have gone against the stipulated agreement of the licenses.
The minister charged the members of the taskforce to take inventory of all non-commercial flight operators, investigate all professional licenses and check their authenticity as well as recommend disciplinary measures against airlines found culpable.
The eight-man committee is chaired by the Chief Executive Officer of Aero Contractors, Ado Sanusi, and is expected to report all findings to the minister within the next three months.
