Ticket and boarding pass racketeering is currently making the wave at the Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa, The Tide reports.
The Tide reliably learnt that a group of young men within the age bracket of 19 and 35 years have devised means of processing tickets and boarding pass at high rates for unsuspecting travellers who are not familiar with travel processes.
Majority of victims of this racketeering are young women who are either not conversant with the method of obtaining boarding pass or are not willing to undergo the rigours of obtaining the pass themselves.
The Tide observed that the process of getting the boarding pass is made easier by staff of airlines who work in connivance with the touts to extort unsuspecting passengers.
On daily basis, the number of touts keeps increasing as new faces are seen engaging in ticket and boarding pass racketeering at the departure area of the airport. 
One of the victims who confirmed this menace told The Tide under condition of anonymity that she was made to pay an extra fee of N22,000 to obtain her boarding pass. 
The amount, according to her, included unnecessary charges like Covid-19 charge, airline, and company settlement.
Meanwhile, one of the racketeers, popularly known as Clinton Wele, told The Tide that they were merely assisting the passengers who did not have the patience to go through the rigours of obtaining tickets and boarding pass.
Wele who identified himself as an electrical engineer from one of the Nigerian universities said, “some people like things to be done for them, even what they can do by themselves. They have excess money, so let us also share from it”.
However, one of the military personnel that work at the airport (name withheld), in an interaction with The Tide, said it was better to allow the touts to hustle for their daily bread, instead of carrying gun and engage in armed robbery and other criminal acts.

By: Corlins Walter