The first time a story like this made news, it was the other way around.

An honest airport cleaner had discovered a huge amount of money, turned it in, and was rewarded for her honesty.

This time around, an airport cleaner was arrested with a huge sum of $271,135 (about N53m) at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.

Tijani Owolabi who works with one of the cleaning contractors at the airport, was nabbed by the aviation security personnel of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria while trying to carry the huge sum of money through the screening point.

In a statement by FAAN, the Deputy General Manager, Corporate Affairs, FAAN, Onyekwere Nnaekpe, said that some of the foreign currency was found on Owolabi while the rest was recovered from the sanitary bucket he was holding while trying to pass through screening machine.

Nnaekpe said the agency suspected that Owolabi was conveying the currency to an accomplice at the airside of the airport.

According to the statement, “Aviation security personnel of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria today September 3, 2015 prevented the trafficking of a total sum of 271,135 American dollars through the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Ikeja.

“The sum was found on a worker with one of the cleaning contractors at the airport, Mr. Tijani Owolabi, during a pat down at one of the screening points at ‘D’ Finger of the international terminal.

“The airport cleaner who was suspected to be conveying the foreign currency to an accomplice at the sterile area of the terminal, was immediately apprehended by aviation security staff on duty and handed over to the appropriate security agencies at the airport for further investigation.”

Ada Igboanugo