Last Friday, May 13, there was a striking landing at the Guaraní airport, located in Ciudad del Este. It was a cargo plane that came from Venezuela to carry 7,000 boxes of cigarettes from Tabacalera del Este SA. The value of the merchandise was around G. 6,000 million.
The striking thing is that these flights only bring around 7 to 8 people. However, on this occasion, 18 people arrived, including 11 Venezuelans and 7 Iranians.
Favio Espinoza, director of the Migratory Movement of Migrations, expressed in an interview with 730 AM that they were governed by the declaration of the flight, and that, as crew members, they are exempt from presenting a consular visa.
The 18 people were staying at the Drazzler Hotel from Friday night until 3 am on Monday, May 16.
The shipment consisted of 7,080 boxes of cigarettes, 6,000 were from Ibiza and 1,076 were Ibiza extra mild. The total value was around G. 6,000 million and was destined for the island of Aruba (Dutch colony) that only has around 6,000 inhabitants.
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Douglas Cubilla, Dinac’s director of airports, said that Tabesa usually makes these flights, although they are not very often.
“There are flights from Tabesa that depart with shipments of cigarettes. I don’t remember when was the last time, but it was this year. Whenever they can have a full plane they carry. These are cigarette exports from Tabacalera del Este SA”, he stated.
When asked about the number of days the crew stays, he replied that sometimes they stay for several days and other times they leave the next day.
“It was something different related to the number of passengers. Freighter planes usually carry 6 to 7 crew members. He brought 18, including Venezuelans and Iranians. By declaring that they are part of the crew, it is evident that they have all the mechanical pilot licenses. That is the sole responsibility of the company,” he commented.
Regarding the final controls, he stated that the National Anti-Drug Secretariat (Senad) presented an intervention certificate by which they reviewed the merchandise when it was shipped. Subsequently, an act was drawn up and they did not find any irregularity.
The cargo plane belongs to the company Emtrasur SA and arrived in Paraguay for the first time.
