Madrid  - Spanish police have detained a pilot from the Dutch airline Transavia on charges of being implicated in the crimes of Argentina's 1976-83 military dictatorship, the daily El Pais reported Wednesday.

The man, whose nationality was not given, was held inside a plane preparing to take off for Amsterdam at Valencia airport on Tuesday afternoon.

The man is wanted by the Argentine judiciary for his alleged involvement in the so-called death flights, in which drugged government opponents were thrown out of airplanes.

The arrest made the plane suffer a delay. (dpa)