Airport Intruder Attempted to Set Air France Plane on Fire at FNA

An Air France medium haul Airbus A319 with a new cabin version is greeted by water jets on the tarmac at Roissy Charles de Gaulle airport after its landing on March 18, 2015. AFP PHOTO ERIC PIERMONT (Photo credit should read ERIC PIERMONT/AFP/Getty Images)

A man with no boarding pass and without valid identification nearly boarded an Air France flight while carrying a can of gasoline, a book of matches and a cigarette lighter at Freetown International Airport in Sierra Leone.

In what is being described as a “massive security breech,” a man carrying a can of gasoline, a lighter and matches at Freetown International Airport (FNA) reportedly made his way to an Air France flight bound for Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) on Saturday. The man, identified as 31-year-old Ibrahim Kanu in local media reports, did not possess a valid passport and allegedly attempted to board the flight without a boarding pass.

Airport officials promised to step up security following the embarrassing incident. Prosecutors told a Freetown, Sierra Leone court that Kanu entered a secure area of the airport through an employee access point and boarded a bus shuttling passengers to the Air France flight.

According to details reported in The Sierra Leone Telegraph, the intruder gained access to the tarmac through a security gate reserved for the airport general manager. The gate was reportedly unlocked at the time of the breach. Security footage is said to show Kanu loitering near the runway for several hours before changing clothes and blending in with ticketed passengers boarding a bus to the Paris-bound Air France flight.

Police sources told the newspaper that the would-be arsonist was not able to board the aircraft and was apprehended exiting the shuttle bus. Eight airport workers were also taken into custody following the bizarre episode.

Security at FNA is administered by the UK-based firm Westminster. John Dromond, head of the company’s Sierra Leone operations declined to comment on Saturday’s panic at the airport. “Investigations are still going on. That’s how much I can say,” Dromond told reporters.

[Photo: TIME]