By Libya Herald reporters.
Tripoli, 4 February 2015:
The last two of six crew members of an aid flight seized in November in . . .[restrict]Ghadames have been released. The pilot and the co-pilot, believed to be Russians, walked free yesterday after three and a half months in detention, it is thought at Mitiga airport.
The Airbus 300 cargo plane had left Sharjah and flown via Tobruk to Ghadames on 16 November. In the course of its journey, control of the town passed from the Libyan Army to Libya Dawn forces. When it landed, the aircraft and the six people aboard were held on suspicion of arms smuggling.
However Jamal Zubia, head of the foreign media office and spokesman for the Tripoli antigovernment of Omer Al-Hassi told the Libya Herald last December that no arms had been found on the plane. Thus he said a court had ruled that four of the crew, two Ukrainians, a Russian and a Kurd should be released. The pilot and copilot were however being kept for further investigation.
This pair has now also been released. It has not been made clear what extra enquiries caused them to be kept them in detention for a further seven weeks. The fate of the cargo plane which had been leaded from the UAE is also unknown.
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