US Air Marshal in ‘quarantine’ after syringe attack at Lagos airport

An Air Force officer of the United States of America was attacked with a syringe at the Murtala Muhammad International Airport in Lagos on Sunday night.

The attacker drove the syringe into the back of the US Federal Air Marshal in the Lagos airport where the American and his other colleagues went to board a flight heading for their homeland.



Reports claimed that U.S. law enforcement officials said the incident shocked them because it was an unprovoked attack in which the attacker succeeded in injecting his victim with the substance. The attack did not stop the marshal’s trip as he boarded the plane to Houston with other marshals travelling with him.

The victim did not exhibit any signs of illness during the flight but however, he was met in Houston by FBI agents and health workers from the Centres for Disease Control (CDC).

Reports have it that he was immediately quarantined for fear of the substance containing some form of the Ebola virus.

While the unknown assailant fled and could not be located, officials said the other air marshals on the team were able to secure the needle, and took it to the U.S for proper test.

“While there is no immediate intelligence to confirm the aim of the attack , this is our reminder that international cowards will attempt to take sneaky lethal shots at our honourable men and women abroad,” said Jon Adler, the national president of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association.