Remote Polish Airport May Have Hosted CIA

A former military air base hidden in the woods in northern Poland may have been used by CIA flights bringing detainees to a secret interrogation center.

The Mazury-Szczytno International Airport has a 6,500-foot runway, long enough to handle large jets, the Chicago Tribune reports. While no aircraft have used it recently, there was a lot of activity for a few months in 2002 and 2003.

Observers said that most of the planes that landed were corporate jets belonging to U.S. air transport companies. They usually stopped at the far end of the runway where government vehicles would meet them and then take off after no more than 2 hours on the ground.

Most of the planes arrived from Afghanistan and took off for destinations like Uzbekistan and Morocco.

"Everything was unusual, from beginning to end," said Mariola Przewlocka, the manager from 2003 until 2005. "I was told to accept these flights even when the airport was closed."

Polish intelligence maintains a complex at Stare Kiejkuty, 12 miles from the airport.

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