Defecting pilots fly Libyan jets back to Tripoli
Wed, 22 Feb 2012 14:20 GMT
VALLETTA, Feb 22 (Reuters) - Two Libyan Mirage fighter jets, flown to Malta by defecting pilots early in the Libyan uprising a year ago, headed back home on Wednesday.
The jets, now carrying the roundels of the forces which overthrew Muammar Gaddafi last October, were flown by the same pilots who took them to Malta on Feb. 21 last year after they defied orders to bomb rebels near Benghazi.
The two pilots were granted protection by Malta during the uprising, and received a hero's welcome when they returned to Tripoli for the first time at the end of last year.
Their aircraft were impounded by Malta for a year, with the tiny island fending off requests by the Gaddafi government to have them returned.
Maltese armed forces commander Brigadier Martin Xuereb said on Tuesday that his soldiers had taken precautions to ensure that Gaddafi forces did not try to take the jets back forcibly. (Reporting by Chris Scicluna; editing by David Stamp)
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