Six people arrested after they illegally landed their plane in Herat

According to the governor’s spokesman a plane allegedly from Sharjah in the Persian Gulf landed last week at the airport without official clearance.

Six passengers, one Pakistani and five Afghans, allegedly offloaded the plane. On board were 10 high-end vehicles and food.

Officials said the plane departed after its cargo was offloaded.

When questions were raised, police raided the hotel in Herat city where the passengers were staying. Good were confiscated and the six passengers were arrested, Tolo News reported.

Provincial Police Chief Gen. Abdul Majid Rozi said that five Afghans and one Pakistani citizen had been arrested at a hotel in Herat city.

“At the moment they are in the custody of police and their goods have been confiscated by security forces,” said Rozi.

Meanwhile provincial governor Mohammad Asif Rahimi, said that the plane landed illegally and had not had landing clearance from airport officials. He said President Ashraf Ghani is aware of the incident and was concerned about it.

Rahimi added that a number of airport officials have been dismissed over the incident.

“Herat provincial administration was not aware of this issue at all, this issue was discussed in Kabul. I was made aware of it from Kabul and the president is very angry about this. The president dismissed Herat aviation officials,” said Rahimi.

It is not however yet clear what the purpose of the flight was but officials have speculated that it could have been a private or charter flight for wealthy hunters from the United Arab Emirates – who have in the past come to Afghanistan to hunt rare birds.

The vehicles and goods offloaded from the plane have been confiscated by Herat police who say the court will take a decision in this regard.