Chinelo Obogo, Lagos

Air Peace has denied owing a private plane recently seized by US authorities.

According to the airline’s Communications Manager, Stanley Olisa, the company does not currently own any aircraft in the US and reports linking it to a seized private plane are false. He said the reports were done by “mischief makers who are bent on tarnishing the image of the airline and its owner.”

Related: Allen Onyema and the audacity to succeed

“We have since learnt that the actual owner of the aircraft appeared in court on Tuesday in the US, but unfortunately some people are still linking the aircraft to Air Peace,” Olisa said.

The United States authorities recently seized a private jet belonging to a Nigerian facing trial in New York. The suspect was involved in an international fraud scheme and his plane was seized as a result. The jet was parked at Peachtree DeKalb Airport, a county-owned public airport in DeKalb County, Georgia, United States as federal agents processed the plane for evidence.

A hearing will be held to send the suspect back to New York where the charges he faces were filed. The owner of the jet is yet to be identified, but reports say it was seized after the suspect put it up for sale.