The plane landed at about 9:19pm that day and blocked the only major runway at the airport, delaying takeoff and landing of flights in the airport for over 20 hours.
The Embassy of Saudi Arabia in a letter dated Dec., 20 to Leadership Newspaper wanted to clarify to Nigerians and the media that, the cargo plane was not carrying any weapon but bullet proof cars. Accoridng to them; the Boeing 747 plane marked K 74798 "was chartered by Saudi Arabia Airline, carrying bullet-proof cars and its final destination is Murtala Muhammad Airport, Lagos, Nigeria.
The detailed description of the content of the plane is as follows: a set of bullet-proof cars weighing 58 tonnes. Another set of five bullet-proof cars weighing 42 tonnes.
"The goods were a portion of a supply contract for 10 bullet-proof cars to a government agency in Nigeria, which were to be conveyed from Sharjah (UAE) via Abuja, through Fast Forward Cargo US UAC, to Defence Industries of Nigeria (DICON), 45 Ahmadu Bello Way, Kaduna, through the company's contact person: Mr Nwajpudu Livinston/CCC. The goods were manufactured in South Africa."
The Saudis wanted the impression that the cargo plane was carrying weapons be corrected since the goods aboard the plane "were neither those considered as dangerous nor prohibited."
