PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) - Police on Monday arrested an official from Caribbean-based Air ALM for orchestrating the killing of Air France's director in Haiti, officials said.
Hans Alain Theophile, who managed contracts between ALM and Air France, was arrested when he appeared at judicial police headquarters following a series of summons, judicial police director Michael Lucius said.Air France executive Didier Mortet, 49, was shot and killed on his way home from the airport June 24, police said. He was riding in a car with his Ukrainian wife and Haitian chauffeur when three gunmen approached on a motorcycle and shot at the car.
Mortet was shot in the head and the arm, and he died on his way to the hospital. Neither the wife nor the chauffeur were hurt.
He had lived in Haiti for about two years and was in charge of Air France flights in and out of Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince.
A father and a longtime employee of Air France, he had previously worked in Vietnam.
Theophile, a Haitian, was the fifth person to be arrested in connection with Mortet's homicide. He is being held at a jail in the capital.
Lucius said Theophile had been the "intellectual author" of the killing, and he had paid three assassins the equivalent of $3,925 Cdn to carry it out. Two of those in police custody, including one of the triggermen, told police that Theophile had paid them, Lucius said.
Police said they had not established a motive.
It was not clear when Theophile would appear in court.
Curacao-based Air ALM, or Dutch Antillean Airlines, flies to and from Aruba, Colombia, Curacao, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Miami, Puerto Rico and Venezuela.
