The Government gave details of the private flight taken by the woman who allegedly entered the country with suitcases that were not registered.
"The plane was left in custody in the Royal Class hangar, in a transit situation in accordance with current airport regulations," they said. Journalistic information said that Laura Arrieta arrived with several suitcases that were not checked.
President Javier Milei’s government has responded to speculation over the allegedly suspicious arrival of a private jet in Buenos Aires last month.
Earlier this week, journalist Carlos Pagni reported on his LN+ television news show that a private jet had arrived in Argentina from Miami that had not been subject to inspection by aviation security authorities.
Reporting by the Perfil newspaper has since established that the plane left Miami on February 25 and arrived at Aeroparque Jorge Newbery in Buenos Aires the same day.
Travelling on the flight, Pagni alleged in his programme, was a US citizen named Laura Belén Arrieta, who arrived in Argentina with a large amount of luggage.
“They say that last week a plane appeared, a private flight from Miami, with a Miss Laura Belén Arrieta [onboard],” said the journalist. “Apparently she arrived with a number of suitcases, we don't know how many, but it seems that there were a lot of them.”
Emphasising that the information he had received had yet to be fully confirmed, the host of Odisea Argentina said Arrieta is linked to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), the political organisation from the United States that hosts forums.
President Milei is among those who have spoken at CPAC events and Arrieta, according to photographs shared online this week, attended a leg of the event that took place in Buenos Aires last year. In one image, she is shown alongside President Milei.
According to Pagni, sources informed him that noted that Airport Security Police (PSA) and Customs officials tried to carry out an inspection of the aircraft, but were informed by superiors not to inspect the luggage onboard the plane.
In comments to Perfil, government sources denied suspicious activity.
“Routine checks were carried out on the arriving aircraft. There were no new findings,” government sources told Perfil.
“The plane was kept in the Royal Class hangar, IN TRANSIT SITUATION in accordance with current airport regulations, and left a few days later for a destination abroad. The same plane departs on 05/03 [March 5] from Buenos Aires to Tenerife [for a stopover], [with a] final destination [of] Paris,” they added.
The government denied reports that “many suitcases” were aboard the jet. “The passenger only came down with a carry-on [suitcase] and a suitcase to which the routine procedure was carried out and the flight left days later to its final destination, France,” said the government.
Maximiliano Ferraro, the leader of the centre-right Coalición Cívica, called on the authorities to clarify details of Arrieta’s alleged arrival publicly. In a statement, he requested information and CCTV footage of the US citizen’s arrival and entry into the country.
“According to [Pagni’s] account, there was a clear order: ‘Don't look at anything here.’ The episode raises serious doubts about who gave the order to relax customs controls and what interests are hidden behind this special treatment,” Ferraro said.
“It is known that Arrieta participated in CPAC, the international convention of the conservative right, which took place in Argentina. Some questions need to be answered. That is why we will file a request for access to public information,” he remarked.
The Coalición Cívica leader said the Milei government’s claims of transparency should be put to the test: “If it preaches transparency, it should immediately clarify this episode.”
– TIMES/NA/PERFIL
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