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image source, Reuters
The plane has been in Argentina since June 6.
A Venezuelan-flagged plane carrying Venezuelan and Iranian crew has been stationary since last week at Ezeiza International Airport in Argentina at the center of a mysterious controversy that has sparked international interest.
It is a Boeing 747 of Venezuelan airline Emtrasur, which was seized by Argentine authorities on June 8 after being stranded due to a lack of fuel.
The plane had arrived in Buenos Aires on the 6th of the month and was due to fly to Montevideo two days later, but Uruguay refused access to its airspace, so she had to return to the Argentine airport, where she was detained.
The 14 Venezuelan crew and five Iranians who were traveling on the plane were housed in a hotel in the Argentine capital, and Iranians’ passports are withheld, while the justice system investigates A series of alleged wrongdoing has raised suspicion.
Here we tell you what is known so far.
Who is this plane for?
Caracas-based airline Amtrasur registered the plane as part of its fleet in January.
image source, Getty Images
Mahan Air denied ownership of the plane.
But before that, for 15 years, the Boeing 747 worked for the Iranian company Mahan Air.
“The ownership of the Boeing 747, which is in Argentina, has nothing to do with Mahan Airlines,” said Amir Hossein Zolanfari, a spokesman for that company, in statements to the Iranian news agency IRNA reported by BBC Persian service.
The official confirmed that the ownership of the plane had been transferred to the Venezuelan company, and that it was not a lease contract, as indicated by some non-Iranian sources.
Emtrasur is a subsidiary of the state-owned Venezuelan Alliance of Aeronautics and Air Services (Conviasa).
Both Conviasa and Mahan Air are sanctioned by the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control and Sanctions. (Office of Foreign Assets Control).
The aircraft was built 36 years ago and is currently registered with the initials YV3531, corresponding to the Venezuelan aircraft.
According to aviation website Planespotters.net, it was previously registered as Mahan Air with the acronym EP-MND.
In September 2012, OFAC issued a statement reporting the inclusion of Mahan Air with these acronyms in the list of sanctioned assets.
Why are you suspicious?
Mahan Air is widely suspected of having links to the Quds Force, the powerful elite paramilitary arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.
image source, Getty Images
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is under constant US surveillance.
United State Mahan Air is accused of transporting military cargo on civilian aircraftAnd in 2011 sanctions were imposed on those who work with the Iranian airline.
In May 2020, the US Treasury Department decried the existence of Mahan Air’s chartered flights to Venezuela that allegedly transported Iranian staff, technical equipment, and other materials used and paid for by the Venezuelan government. Nicolas Madurowho is not recognized by Washington as the legitimate president of Venezuela.
In addition to suspicions about the plane, Argentina is also investigating why there were five Iranians among the cabin crew.
The Argentine press indicated that the authorities of that country were shocked by the fact The cabin crew was “more than double” what was needed.
On Monday, Argentine Security Minister Anibal Fernandez told the radio station Perville that the name of one of the Iranian crew members, Gholamreza Qasemi, “matches” the name of a member of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Representative Gerardo Melman, of the opposition Together for Change coalition, filed a request to report to the House of Representatives and then a complaint to the courts to investigate the “presumed abnormal behavior” carried out by the flight.
The legislator said in statements to the newspaper “La Nacion” that the plane “turned off the transponder, which is similar to the plane’s global positioning system, on its flight between Cordoba and Buenos Aires.”
also, He stated that the plane came from a stop in Ciudad del Este, “where there were 29 passengers and 10 who stayed in that city”.
According to Millman, among those passengers was a person with the same last name as Iran’s interior minister. [Ahmad Vahidi]accused before the Argentine justice system as “the intellectual author of the attack on AMIA”, which took place on July 18, 1994, when a twisted car crashed into the headquarters of the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina, causing 85 deaths and 300 injured.
image source, Getty Images
On July 18, 1994, at 09:53 AM, an artifact exploded in the AMIA Building, in the heart of Buenos Aires. More than 80 people were killed and nearly 300 were injured.
“These planes carry 4 or 5 people, it’s a cargo. With 30, as happened in Ciudad del Este, or 19, when they reach Buenos Aires, they lose. There is no coincidence; there will be an operation by the Venezuelan intelligence and Iranian intelligence,” the legislator emphasized. in Argentine territory.
What was the plane carrying?
The impounded plane was configured as a cargo plane, and appeared to have been transporting auto parts and other components for the vehicles inside. Specifically: components for the production of dashboards and seats for the Volkswagen Taos truck.
image source, Reuters
The Amtrasur plane was carrying spare parts for cars.
However, both SAS Automotriz SA, the company that acquired these auto parts, and Volkswagen of Argentina It issued statements clearing itself of the Amtrasur flight.
In the case of Volkswagen, it indicated that it obtained these parts directly from SAS Automotriz SA, while this auto parts company stated that it had ordered that these components be shipped from Querétaro (Mexico) to Forwarder Fracht USA, an international logistics company.
“The relationship between Forwarder and the airline for the arrival of the aforementioned parts to Argentina is something that SAS Automotriz Argentina SA does not know and is not related at all,” the company said in a statement carried by the Argentine press.
What happened to the passengers?
According to the information published so far, the impounded plane was carrying 19 people: 14 Venezuelans and 5 Iranians.
Argentina’s Security Minister, Anibal Fernandez, said on Monday that at the time of entering Argentina there were no red warnings or any kind of similar action against any of the crew members.
He added that later the Argentine government received information from international organizations that And he warned that “part of the crew belongs to companies linked to the Quds Force.”A division of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
image source, Getty Images
Argentina’s Security Minister, Anibal Fernandez, reported that Venezuelan passengers are free to leave the country.
Initially, the passports of all crew members were taken away, although they were to be given permission to stay in Argentina and stay in a hotel.
Last Friday, passports were approved to be returned to Venezuelans, who are free to “board the plane and leave without any inconvenience,” according to Minister Fernandez.
The situation is different in the case of the five Iranian passengers.
On Monday, Federal Judge Federico Villina ordered the passports of the five Iranian crew members to be kept for an additional 72 hours. According to local newspapers, the judge had earlier ordered the fingerprinting of these people.
The memorandum identified the Iranians as Mohammad Khosrowraj, Gholam Reza Ghasemi, Mehdi Moussalli, Saeed Walizadeh and Abdul Baset Mohammadi.
Hours after the announcement of Judge Velina’s decision, Federal Prosecutor Cecilia Encardona has requested that these five Iranians be investigated for possible links to terrorism.
The official also requested a confidentiality order on the case, a decision that the judge agreed to shortly after.
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