UK Checks Private Flights at Stansted Airport Linked to Epstein

ILLUSTRATION UNSPLASH/Henry Ren

JAKARTA - The British police are reviewing information regarding private flights to and from Stansted Airport, London, following the release of the file related to the late convicted sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein, by the United States Department of Justice.

"We are assessing the information that has emerged regarding private flights to and from Stansted Airport following the publication of the Epstein file by the US Department of Justice," said an Essex Police spokesman quoted by ANTARA from Anadolu, Wednesday, February 18.

The BBC reported that although police were reviewing the information, it did not necessarily lead to a full investigation.

In December, a BBC investigation found 87 flights linked to Epstein arriving or departing from airports in Britain between the early 1990s and 2018.

The announcement from police came after former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the documents showed how Epstein was able to use an aviation center in Essex to "fly girls from Latvia, Lithuania and Russia."

Last week, Brown wrote in the New Statesman that police needed to urgently review whether Epstein's victims were victims of human trafficking in and outside the UK.

Brown also sent letters to the heads of police forces as well as the commissioners of the Metropolitan, Essex, and Thames Valley Police.

"All private aircraft at London Stansted operate through independent fixed-base operators, who handle all aspects of private and corporate aviation in accordance with regulatory requirements," Stansted Airport said in a statement quoted by the BBC.

The airport stressed that the terminals were "completely independent" and "no private jet passengers entered the main terminal of the airport."

"The airport does not manage or have access to passenger arrangements on privately operated aircraft," he added.

On January 30, the US Department of Justice released more than 3 million pages of documents, 2,000 videos, and 180,000 images under the Epstein File Transparency Act, which was signed into law last November.

The material includes transcripts of the jury board and investigative notes, though many pages are still censored.

Survivors and Epstein victims' families said the release still fell short of legal requirements and still left out much important information.

Epstein was found dead by suicide in a New York City jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges involving underage girls.