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Inherent Risks was retained by an Aviation Managing General Agent (MGA) to trace a helicopter, previously chartered by the United Nations, which had disappeared with no trace for over 90-days.
The details of when the helicopter had last been seen were murky, and when a claim had been submitted by the Charter company, at a time when only 37-days were remaining until the insurance policy was due for renewal, it raised questions.
Upon collating relevant open source intelligence, Inherent Risks deployed a Consultant to Mogadishu to investigate the situation from on-the-ground, which included the review of airport logs, interviewing ground staff and liaising with law enforcement.
Information obtained from on-the-ground was that the helicopter had been photographed on the back of a low loader transporter truck, and it had even been posted on social media by a passer by. The photograph had been posted only 11-days prior, but despite several attempts to contact the poster, the date of when the photo was taken could not be verified.
Our team geolocated the photograph to the South of Baidoa, approximately 250km North West of Mogadishu. On the assumption that the photo was posted on the day it was taken, this was the last known place the helicopter had been seen, and became the main focus of the investigation.
According to airport logs at Aden Adde International Airport, the helicopter had appeared in logs in and around Mogadishu Airspace, 17-days prior. This despite the Charter company reporting that the aircraft had not been seen for over 90-days.
Between the last time the helicopter appeared on flight logs, and when the photo of the helicopter was posted on social media, there was a period of approximately six-days where the location of the helicopter could not be verified, or in whose possession it had been.
Our Consultant flew to Baidoa three days after arriving in Mogadishu.
Inherent Risks staff were also able to obtain previous documents for the helicopter in the region over the previous 36-months. While the name of the Charter company appeared on official documents, payments made for servicing and fuel were traced to another company.
On further investigation, we learned that the named Charter company on the aviation insurance policy, who had leased the aircraft to the United Nations, were not the owners of the helicopter, but had sub-leased it for which they were in arrears for six months prior.
The result of the nine-day investigation was that the aircraft had not been stolen, it had been repossessed by its owners, and they had done so by road so that they were not flying a United Nations marked helicopter without permission.
The insurance claim was denied, and further, Inherent Risks was able to introduce the owner of the aircraft to the MGA for future aviation insurance requirements.