Public prosecution officials have confirmed the arrest of four Venezuelan pilots and two aircraft maintenance mechanics accused of trying to fly out of the country on a jet said to belong to one of the main Banco Peravia executives who is a fugitive of Dominican justice. An Interpol arrest warrant has been issued for him. The arrested pilots are Armando Gutierrez, Victor Alvarez, Jorge Yzghen and Alexander Lira. The Cessna 550 with US registration N61MA jet is said to belong to former bank CEO Jose Luis Santoro. The four pilots arrived at La Isabela Airport on Friday, 6 March 2015 on board a Commander AC90, Venezuelan registration YV3962 piloted by Armando Gutierrez and Jorge Yzghen. The prosecutors say that the confiscated plane was to be piloted by Victor Alvarez and Alexander Lira.
As reported in El Dia, when the pilots were about to remove the airplane from the hangar at La Isabela airport, one of the airport staff ascertained that there was a retention order on the airplane and alerted airport security services.
Another Venezuelan, Jose Basilis, claims to be the owner of the airplane, according to his lawyer in the DR Julio Pena Guzman who is also representing the other pilots. Today, Monday 9 March 2015, the Public Prosecution needs to decide whether to order pretrial detention for the pilots.