The Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB) intercepted and immobilized an aircraft in the state of Apure declared hostile by the authoritiesThe strategic operational commander of that institution, Domingo Hernández Lárez, reported this Friday.
The plane entered the country from the east without issuing an identification code or presenting a flight plan and with the transponder turned off, so “Its illegality was declared and its interdiction with three F-16 fighter systems” of the air force was immediately ordered.the official indicated in a publication instagram.
However, he continued, The aircraft “did not comply with the protocol established in the Control Law for the Comprehensive Defense of Venezuelan Airspace”which is why it was declared hostile and was required to make a forced landing in a town in Apure “for its consequent immobilization on the ground.”
“Venezuela is a land of peace, freedom and democracy, law and justice, where drug trafficking is fought daily and frontally,” said the military chief.
The FANB has neutralized 28 aircraft this year
According to the FANB, There are 28 aircraft immobilized so far in 2025and 419 since the promulgation of the airspace defense law in 2012.
On Tuesday, Hernández Lárez indicated that the authorities disabled an aircraft detected when it was flying over the country’s airspace at low altitude and illegally in the state of Bolívar.
These latest operations were carried out at a time when Venezuela denounces a threat against it from the United States, which maintains a military deployment in the Caribbean and which recently warned of an alleged “potentially dangerous situation” for which “extreme caution” would have to be taken when flying over the oil nation and the south of that region.
