Over 80 kg of cocaine was found on a Boeing 747 Freighter at Buenos Aires Ezeiza International Airport on Tuesday, leading to the arrest of three Dutch crew members and four loaders.
The aircraft, a KLM Boeing 747-400 Freighter operated by Martinair, had previously flown to Argentina via Sao Paulo, now Argentinian authorities are working to determine which of the two locations saw the substance loaded on board the aircraft.
Just before departing as flight MP6912, to Amsterdam via Ecuador, customs arrived at the aircraft with a court order to perform a complete search of the aircraft. Over 50 customs officers and five tracking dogs were used to conduct the search, a discovery of 82 bricks of cocaine stuffed between cargo pallets was made.
As well as the three crew members that were arrested, four people responsible for loading the aircraft were also arrested for questioning. Aviation24.be reports that a total of 23 people ended up being arrested from the operation, work will now take place to determine the origin of the cocaine.
We contacted KLM about the matter and they responded with the following statement:
“We can confirm Argentinean authorities are investigating a freighter operation conducted by Martinair Cargo, Aaron. KLM and Martinair Cargo will fully cooperate with the investigation. As long as the matter is under investigation, we cannot respond to questions.”
KLM Spokesperson
More will be added to this post as information becomes available.
Cover photo by Aleksander Markin on Flickr.