Kenya Airways (KQ) has confirmed that two of its staff were last Friday arrested while in Kinshasha, DRC.
KQ, in a statement on Friday, April 26, 2024, said the two employees were arrested and continue to be detained by the Military Intelligence Unit known as Detection Militaire des Activities Anti Patrie (DEMIAP).
“During their arrest, their phones were seized, and all access to them has been denied,” KQ Managing Director Allan Kilavuka said in part of the statement.
KIlavuka added that earlier this week, the Kenyan embassy officials and a few KQ staff were allowed to visit them but only for a few minutes.
“The reason for their arrest was alleged to be missing custom documentation on valuable cargo that was to be transported on a KQ flight on April 12th, 2024. However, we wish to state that the said cargo was not uplifted or accepted by KQ due to incomplete documentation,” he noted.
KQ noted that it on Wednesday filed an application in the military court for the two to be released unconditionally. The court heard the matter on April 25th, 2024, and granted KQ’s request that the two staff members be released to allow due process.
“Despite the court orders, the military intelligence unit is still holding them incommunicado, yet these are civilians being held in a military intelligence facility,” the KQ boss said.
When putting things straight over the matter, KQ noted that the said cargo was not on the air side for transportation and, therefore, not in their possession as the logistic handler was still completing documentation before handing it over to them.
“All efforts to explain to the military officers that KQ had not accepted the cargo because of incomplete documentation proved futile,” it noted.
The national career has now insisted that it fully adheres to international best practices in handling and transporting cargo.
It further said the airline has stringent processes and compliance checks known as ‘Ready for carriage’ to ensure any cargo ferried on our flights meets all the statutory requirements across our destinations.
“All our logistics partners must comply with these measures before KQ accepts any cargo,” it said, in the statement.