MIAMI.- Puerto Rican singer Noelia complained that her private plane was "arbitrarily seized" at an airport in Venezuela and asked the nation's Vice President Nicolas Maduro to take steps to resolve the case.

The artist told EFE Friday that the aircraft was in Venezuela for its possible sale, which in the end never went through. It was scheduled to be back in Florida on Wednesday to fly the artist to California, but was detained at Maiquetia International Airport in Caracas.

The private jet with U.S. registration, belonging to the artist and her husband, Jorge Reynoso, was "arbitrarily seized," the songstress said.

"I publicly request the honorable government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to intervene in the injustice imposed by some officials who are holding the private jet," Noelia said.

She said they had fulfilled all the requirements laid down by Venezuelan law and that the plane's two pilots were "the object of extortion by officials at all levels."

Noelia said that "directors of the Anti-drug and Customs Agency certified the inspection of the plane and distanced themselves from the seizure," while pointing to the president of Venezuela's National Institute of Civil Aviation," or INAC, Francisco Paz Fleitas, as "the sole authority in the matter."

The vocalist of songs like "My Everything" and "Enamorada" (In Love) suspects that behind the seizure is the hidden intention to "keep the aircraft and they're trying to work up some justification."

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