Festus Keyamo, Nigeria’s Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, has asserted that some private aircraft are being used for illegal operations such as drug trafficking and money laundering.

Keyamo revealed the information on Thursday, June 27, at the Abuja Ministry of Aviation as a Ministerial Taskforce Committee was being formed with the intention of putting an end to the country’s illegal charter operations.

The minister claimed that the illegal acts had cost the airline sector billions of dollars and raised significant security concerns, even though he did not name the carriers.

The minister continued by saying that some of the people involved in illegal conduct had non-commercial aircraft flying permits, but they had broken the terms of those licences

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Keyamo gave the committee members instructions to create a list of all non-commercial flight operators, investigate and confirm the validity of all professional licences, and recommend penalties for airlines that were found to be at fault.

The minister was to receive a report from the eight-member group, headed by Aero Contractors CEO Ado Sanusi, on its findings in three months.