Spanish authorities have arrested a pilot for Dutch airline Transavia on charges he flew "death flights" for Argentina's former military rulers, a Dutch foreign ministry spokesman said Wednesday.

The pilot, who holds Dutch and Argentine passports, was arrested on Tuesday night in Spain at the request of Argentina's government and is currently being detained, the spokesman said.

A spokesperson for Transavia owner Air France-KLM was not available to comment. Spanish authorities were also not available to comment on the arrest.

An Argentine government report says more than 11,000 people died or disappeared during the so-called "Dirty War," a crackdown on leftists and other opponents of the military regime that ruled the South American country from 1976 to 1983.

Rights groups claim the number is closer to 30,000.

In 2005, Argentina's Supreme Court, at the urging of then-President Nestor Kirchner, struck down two amnesty laws that shielded hundreds of former officers from charges of human rights abuses during the dictatorship.

Courts have since issued a handful of severe prison sentences for members of the security forces -- many now elderly -- who were convicted of kidnapping, torturing and killing dissidents.

Human rights groups have alleged that one of the regime's tactics was the use of so-called "death flights," where people were pushed out of planes or helicopters into rivers or the Atlantic Ocean to drown.