The FAN specified that the detainees were identified as Andrés Guillermo Carvajal Díaz, a Colombian citizen, and Jesús Alberto Espinoza Arrizaga, a Venezuelan national. Both were placed at the disposal of the Public Ministry.
The National Armed Forces (FAN) detained two pilots and neutralized an aircraft that had entered Venezuelan airspace from Guyana without authorization. The detainees were identified as Andrés Guillermo Carvajal Díaz, a Colombian citizen, and Jesús Alberto Espinoza Arrizaga, a Venezuelan national.
According to the FAN, both crewed a fixed-wing aircraft model Cessna 210, with allegedly hidden initials, which flew at low altitude “to evade radars” and without a flight plan approved by the National Institute of Civil Aeronautics (INAC). The aircraft did not have transponders, formal geolocation equipment, visible license plates or regular communication systems. “He was violating airspace,” they stated.
The Ministry of Defense reported that the plane made an emergency landing on the runway of the indigenous community of Kamarata, in the tourist sector of Kavak, Gran Sabana municipality of Bolívar state. At that point, FAN rapid reaction units intercepted and captured the crew members, who were placed under the command of the Public Ministry.
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The authorities indicated that the aircraft presented modifications to the co-pilot door, with an alleged device for launching cargo, as well as additional internal fuel tanks. According to the FANB, these characteristics indicate a possible use of the plane for illicit drug trafficking activities.
Several cell phones, just over 18 million Colombian pesos, three GPS devices and a radio were seized from the two citizens.
The FAN affirmed, through the Telegram account, that Venezuela “fights transnational drug trafficking frontally”, that materials related to drug trafficking are not produced or processed in the country and reiterated that the country “is not a platform for this crime.”
According to the institution, this is the 26th aircraft disabled in 2025 and the 417th since these airspace control operations were applied.
*Journalism in Venezuela is carried out in a hostile environment for the press with dozens of legal instruments in place to punish the word, especially the laws “against hate”, “against fascism” and “against the blockade.” This content was written taking into consideration the threats and limits that, consequently, have been imposed on the dissemination of information from within the country.
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