The jet charted by the Real Madrid player was seized at Zagreb Airport.
Croatian customs officers have impounded an aircraft owned by the Serbian private charter company Infinity Aviation, which was used on Saturday afternoon by Croatian national team and Real Madrid player Mateo Kovačić and his wife Isabela to fly from Madrid to Zagreb, reports Večernji List on November 8, 2017.
Mića Jovanović, the owner of Infinity Aviation, said that the customs authorities had seized his Cessna Citation CJ1 jet at Zagreb International Airport due to alleged cabotage infringement. In other words, Kovačić’s plane was allegedly flying between two cities in EU member states, between which it is forbidden to fly carriers from non-EU countries.
Jovanović points out that his Cessna was actually flying between two cities within the European Union, and not within Croatia, and that it was therefore not a cabotage infringement. The Serbian entrepreneur and owner of the private Megatrend University says that his aircraft have flown at least 15 times between Madrid and Zagreb so far, transporting another Real Madrid player, Luka Modrić, and that there were never any problems.
“And now, our captain was detained and released only when we bailed him out with 6,000 kuna,” said Jovanović.
He added that Mateo and Isabela Kovačić were supposed to return to Madrid on Sunday with the same plane. After the seizure of Cessna, Jovanović said that he had transferred his yacht from a marina in Trogir in Croatia to Greece so that he would avoid any similar incidents. He added that several more airplanes from Serbian private charter companies had been seized in Croatia for the same reason, including one aircraft owned by Air Pink.
The Customs Administration confirmed they had impounded a Cessna owned by Infinity Aviation because of control measures which they carry out in accordance with the law. Therefore, they temporarily detained the aircraft, in order to determine the facts and if there were any possible violations of the provisions of the customs legislation of the European Union related to the temporary importation procedure. The Customs Administration concluded by saying that the process was still underway.
Translated from Večernji List.
