Private Firm Accused Of Extorting Car Owners After Tricking Them Into Parking 'Illegally' At Abuja Airport

Bashfast International Ventures, a private firm operating at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, has been accused of illegally extorting money from car owners coming into the facility, according to SaharaReporters.

Officials of the company are said to be in the habit of tricking unsuspecting car owners to park their vehicles at certain areas of the airport, only to appear a few minutes later with a towing van to impound such for alleged 'illegal' parking.

Persons whose cars were seized are thereafter forced to pay the sum of N25,000 to get it back or risk further confiscation.

A victim of this disturbing trend, Stephen Oliver, while narrating his recent ordeal at the hands of Bashfast officials at Abuja airport, told SaharaReporters that after tricking him to park his vehicle at a corner of the airport, he was accosted less than five minutes later and dragged to their office where he was forced to pay N25,000.

According to Oliver, 'victims' of this practice at Abuja airport are asked to pay cash and not into Bashfast bank account by officials at the place.

Plea for the amount of money imposed on members of the public by the organisation to be reduced is rejected by Bashfast staff members.

This, according to Oliver, is making life difficult for regular users of Abuja airport, who have to drop off loved ones trying to catch a flight.

"My encounter with these rogue officials happened on Monday. First, they will let you park at a spot inside the airport and seize your car in a matter of minutes. They immediately charge you N25,000 as a penalty for wrong parking and force you to pay cash instead of paying into the company’s account.

"This is how Bashfast under the supervision of airport authorities has been extorting money from innocent Nigerians," Oliver said.

Another aggrieved car owner, Ahmed Bako, who accused Bashfast of taking advantage of them whenever they visit the airport, said they are extorted unnecessarily for driving through the airport.

"Two weeks ago, I went to drop a friend going on a trip, at the airport, I did not park, there was light traffic as we drove in, so my friend came down from the vehicle while I remained in the car.

"Suddenly, two guys appeared from nowhere and accused me of illegal parking. I told them I did not park and had been in the traffic inside the airport but they wouldn’t listen.

"They insisted I give them N5,000 or they would take me to their office and make me pay N25,000 as fine. At the end of the day, I had to beg them with N3,000 to let me go despite committing no offence.

"This situation is really getting out of hand and I think the airport authorities should do something fast about it to save car owners coming into the airport on a daily basis," he said.

Despite repeated complaints by members of the public, the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria has been unable to tackle the situation.

In fact, the agency has been accused of conniving with Bashfast to illegally generate huge revenue from car owners coming into the airport by refusing to create a proper parking space within the Abuja airport.

Efforts to reach the FAAN spokesperson, Henrietta Yakubu on the phone were not successful as her mobile line was not available. She had not replied to a text message sent to her as of the time of filing this report.