Kenya Airways (KQ) has accused the Democratic Republic of Congo’s army of holding two of its employees since last week, despite a court ruling to release them.
The two were arrested by the DR Congo’s military intelligence unit last Friday over alleged missing custom documentation on a “valuable” cargo, KQ said in a statement.
The airline said it did not uplift the cargo to Kinshasa due to incomplete documentation.
“All efforts to explain to the military officers that KQ had not accepted the cargo because of incomplete documentation proved futile,” it added.
The military officers detained the two KQ staff until Tuesday, when Kenyan embassy officials and the airline team were allowed to briefly visit them.
On Thursday, KQ said the military court granted its request to have the employees released as investigations continued.
“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 airline added.
The employees’ phones were seized during the arrest, according to KQ.
It is unclear what the said cargo contained and authorities in DR Congo are yet to comment on the matter.