[9] Challenger flew for two Colombian drug kingpins, Dicson Penagos-Casanova and Juan Gabriel Rios Sierra, who joined forces to supply cocaine to some cartels in the United States.

[11] According to Vladimir Padrino, the plane disobeyed orders and was "annulled" 25 miles northeast of the Josefa Camejo military base.

Aruban Justice Minister Arthur Dowers demanded that Venezuela confirm whether military jets fired at the plane before it crashed.

[1] It turned out that the owner and only official of the airline Dinama Aircorp, which in turn owned the downed aircraft, was Conrad Kulatz, a lawyer from Fort Lauderdale, who in July 2013 (shortly before the founding of Dinama Aircorp), the Florida Bar Association listed as ineligible to practice law because he did not meet the continuing legal education requirement.

Thus, Kulatz deceived the FAA by simply specifying a shopping mall in Texas near the Mexican border as his address and claiming to be a US citizen.

To ensure success, they paid the owner of the plane a commission of about 30-35 percent of the cocaine shipment and bribed Venezuelan military and government officials, according to federal court records.

[13][14] The founder of Dinama Aircorp, Conrad Kulatz, whose plane was involved in transporting cocaine to the United States and Venezuela, was not convicted of offenses in connection with this case,[9] and died in 2021 at the age of 81.