Spanish Officials Bypassed Customs for Secret Polisario Leader Flight, Investigation Reveals

The Foreign Affairs simply indicated by telephone, without further details, that a sick passenger of Algerian origin was on board the plane and that he would be picked up by an ambulance, explains General José Luis Ortiz Cañabate, then head of the Zaragoza base, in his answers to the nine questions addressed to him by the investigating judge of Zaragoza, Rafael Lasala, who is investigating Ghali’s arrival in Spain and his transfer to the hospital in Logroño. On his arrival in the early evening of April 18, the plane was taken, "for security reasons", to the military base, "a common practice for state aircraft", specifies Ortiz Cañabate.

The aircraft had authorization to land in Spain and, in accordance with the instructions given by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs cabinet to the air force staff, the aircraft crew "did not go through passport control at the border", adds the general who explains why the identity of the people on board does not appear in the database. He specifies that he had no information at that time about the origin of the ambulance that came to pick up the "patient", but confirms that the latter was transferred to the San Pedro de Logroño hospital in the evening, without being asked for their passport. In short, the passengers of the plane were not subject to any customs control.

It is now up to Judge Lasala to use this information and, if necessary, to request additional information on Brahim Ghali’s arrival in Spain, a situation that has caused a major crisis with Morocco.