36


Issue 1 2013


The Umaru Dikko affair - the subject of a BBC World Service Witness programme in November – is a salutary reminder of the importance


of getting your


paperwork in order. This was a botched attempt by shady characters allegedly in the pay of the Nigerian government, aided and abetted by a couple of Israeli Mossad agents, to smuggle a rival politician out of the country against his will on board a cargo flight from Stansted, back in 1984. Mr Umaru, appropriately


enough a transport minister in a former Nigerian government, had incurred the displeasure of the country’s latest military rulers and was living in exile in Bayswater, west


London. However, the


Nigerian government wanted him back – but because he reputedly had snaffled around $1 billion, a charge which he has always denied – they also wanted him alive so he could tell them where the money was. Hence the extraordinary plot


that was hatched to, first, snatch the unfortunate Mr Dikko from outside his home, throw him into


A crate way to travel


the back of a van, transfer him to another truck a mile or so down the road, drug him, put him in a crate, drive him to Stansted, get the crate on board a Nigeria Airways 707 freighter and fly him out of the country to meet who knows what fate. The presence of a Nigerian diplomat at Stansted, Okon Edet, was supposed to ensure that the crate was loaded as diplomatic cargo and would hence escape normal Customs scrutiny. Despite reading like the plot


of a rather bad Tin Tin story, the escapade very nearly succeeded. But there were two problems. One was that the abduction, and the transfer from of the captive from van to truck in London had been witnessed, prompting the Police to issue an ‘all ports’ bulletin to be on the lookout; the other was that the crates (there were two, one with the captive, the other containing people who were supposed to ensure that he didn’t expire en route) had no diplomatic markings as required under Article 27(4) of the Vienna convention. Local customs staff also thought it strange that an empty 707 freighter should


///FREIGHT BREAK


arrive to pick up what Mr Edet assured him were ‘just documents’. The strong whiff of anesthetic coming from one of the crates certainly didn’t help either. Suffice to say that customs


officer Charles David Morrow felt that he had sufficient authority to prise the create open, leading to the discovery of the unconscious Mr Dikko and a very rapid sprint down the runway by Mr Edet, who was later expelled by the UK government for his part in the affair. Although the Nigerian


government denied complicity, it did lead to a period of very frosty relations between the two countries for a while, including the ‘arrest’ of a British Caledonian passenger 747 and its crew and passengers for a time. The affair prompted one of


Private Eye’s more memorable covers, one of whose speech- bubbles we make no apologies for appropriating for our headline. The other bubble, as I recall, was “We’ll take good care of you, matey.” http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/ series/witness


Logistics – it’s child’s play It pays to be green


It’s a brave man that gets rid of all his company cars and tells his executives to get on their bikes instead, but it has paid off for Dover forwarder John Shirley. The company was recently


awarded a ‘Green Apple’ award in recognition of


its carbon-cutting


efforts, and in illustrious company too – other recipients included some of the country’s biggest bus groups and the Lush cosmetics firm. John Shirely says: “We have


had no company cars for 17 years. Instead we use integrated transport, mainly Brompton


folding bicycles and trains.” The high-speed train service from Dover to London makes trains a faster and more attractive option. These are not John Shirley’s


only environmental efforts though. It has had a ‘grass roof’ at its Dover site for ten years and has just installed solar panels. And it has also had a wood pellet boiler for four years. John says: “Wood- pellets cost a third of what heating oil would and it means that the basement has more space, besides not stinking of oil. Consequently we have moved the workshop into the boiler room freeing up another


part of the basement which we now rent out to a music producer. In effect therefore, it costs nothing to heat the building, besides dramatically cutting our carbon.”


Former schoolteachers Andy Page and Pat Smedley are seeking partners from the logistics industry to help them fund production of around 2,800 copies of ‘Business on the Move’, a new board game that will teach youngsters all about global supply chains. Companies interested in


having their name emblazoned on the board and reaching a new generation of business decision-makers


should


contact Pat Smedley at pat@ businessonthemove.org Players move pieces around a


Your International Freight Forwarding Partner Africa – Middle East – Asia


Oil, gas and power our speciality


Call us on 020 8645 0666 or 0774 8505350 info@skyswiftuk.com | www.skyswiftuk.com


representation of a global supply chain, bringing products in by air or ship, moving them to where they are needed by road or rail and then trying to sell them. As in the real world, things can go wrong – weather, port strikes, aircraſt being grounded by technical faults – but equally, you can gain points for going ‘green’ and reducing your carbon footprint. Numeracy,


And finally...


Seen at Transec in Earl’s Court last November – hardly the sort of thing you’d expect to find at a Transport Security show? Let’s hope they’ve not been infiltrated.


literacy, environmental science, maths and geography skills will all be put to good use, say the game’s authors. In some versions of the game, you even get to fill out a balance sheet at the end – perhaps enough to set you on a road to a lucrative career in accountancy. Around half the production


run from this social enterprise will be distributed free to schools and the remainder will be sold at a subsidised price. The game seems to have gone


down well with the 540 school kids it has been tested on, most of whom thought it was ‘fun’ –


The supply chain is fun - honestly


though whether they were being offered it as an alternative to a double maths lesson we shall never know. The kids apparently take to


the game like ducks to water, though members of the press and industry seemed a bit bemused when they tried to play it at a launch event in London recently. “I don’t think you’re allowed to load fireworks onto a plane,” said our IT correspondent Marcia MacLeod. Perhaps we could do a special version complete with an IATA dangerous goods manual just for her.


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