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- BBC News World
The Venezuelan-flagged plane carrying Venezuelan and Iranian personnel has been stationary at Ezeiza International Airport in Argentina since last week, the center of a mysterious controversy that has attracted international interest.
It was the Boeing 747 of Venezuelan airline Mtrasur, which was detained by Argentine authorities on June 8 after being stranded due to fuel shortages.
The plane arrived in Buenos Aires on the 6th and was scheduled to fly to Montevideo two days later, but Uruguay refused to access it in its airspace, so it had to return to the Argentine airport, where it was intercepted.
The 14 Venezuelan crew on board and five Iranians were staying at a hotel in the Argentine capital. The Iranians had their passports withheld while the justice system was investigating A series of suspicious abuses.
Here is what we know so far.
Whose plane is it?
Caracas-based Emdrasur Airlines registered the aircraft as part of its fleet in January.
But before that, for 15 years, the Boeing 747 operated for the Iranian company Mahan Air.
“The ownership of the Boeing 747 in Argentina has nothing to do with the great airline,” the plane’s spokesman Amir Hossain Jolanwari said in a statement to the BBC’s Iranian service, IRNA, quoted by the Persian service.
The official assured that the ownership of the aircraft had been transferred to a Venezuelan company and that it was not a lease as suggested by some non-Iranian sources.
Emtrasur is a state-owned subsidiary of the Venezuelan Consortium of Aeronautical Industries and Air Services (Conviasa).
Both Conviasa and Mahan Air are licensed by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control and Restrictions. (OFAC).
This aircraft was built 36 years ago and is currently registered with the initials of YV3531 associated with the Venezuelan aircraft.
According to Planespotters.net, a specialized airline, it was previously registered under the name Mahan Air with the abbreviation EP-MND.
In September 2012, the OFAC released a statement about adding a great airplane with those acronyms to its list of restricted assets.
Why does this raise suspicion?
Mahan Air is widely suspected of having links with the Goods, a powerful elite paramilitary unit of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Force (IRGC).
United States Mahan accused Air of loading military cargo on civilian planesAnd in 2011 imposed sanctions on those operating with Iranian Airlines.
In May 2020, the US Treasury Department condemned the presence of great air charter flights to Venezuela, which allegedly carried Iranian personnel, technical equipment and other items used and paid for by the Venezuelan government. Nicholas MaduroWashington does not recognize Venezuela as the legitimate president.
In addition to the suspicions about the plane, they are also investigating why there were five Iranians in Argentina.
The Argentine press has pointed out that the country’s authorities were shocked by the fact The flight attendants were “more than double” than needed.
This Monday, Argentine Defense Minister Anibal Fernandez told the Perfil radio station that the name of one of the members of the Iranian delegation, Kolam Reza Qasemi, was “linked” to the name of one of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards of Iran.
Gerardo Millman, deputy of the opposition coalition for change, submitted a request for reports to the lower house, which then complained to the courts to investigate the “implicit contradictory behavior” of the aircraft.
In a statement to the La Nación newspaper, the legislator said the plane “turned off a GPS-like transponder on its Cordoba-Buenos Aires flight.”
Further, He said the plane came from a stop in Ciudad del Este, where “there were 29 passengers and 10 people staying in the city.”
According to Millman, one of the passengers had the same last name as the Iranian interior minister. [Ahmad Vahidi]On July 18, 1994, 85 people were killed and 85 were injured when a curved car collided with the headquarters of the Associated Mutual Israel in Argentina.
“These planes carry 4 or 5 people, they are cargo. When they arrive in Buenos Aires, 30 or 19 people, as in Ciudad del Este, they lose. There will be no coincidences; there will be an operation. Member confirmed.
What did the plane carry?
The detainee was confined to a cargo plane, apparently carrying car parts and other components inside. Specifically: Instrument panels and seat components for the Volkswagen brand Davos van.
However, SAS Automotriz SA, the company that purchased these auto parts and Volkswagen Argentina They cut themselves off from the Emtrasur flight and issued statements.
According to Volkswagen, SAS Automotriz SA obtained the parts directly from SA, while the auto parts company said it had ordered shipment from Querétaro (Mexico) to Forwarder Fracht USA, an international logistics company.
“The relationship between the forward and the airline for the arrival of the aforementioned pieces in Argentina is unknown and there is no relationship between SAS Automotriz Argentina SA,” the company said in a statement quoted in the Argentine press.
What happened to the passengers?
According to reports so far, there were 19 people on board the plane, including 14 Venezuelans and 5 Iranians.
Argentina’s Defense Minister Anibal Fernandez said on Monday that there were no early red alerts or any action against any group entering Argentina.
He further added that the Argentine government had received information from international organizations “Parts of the group belong to companies affiliated with the Quds forces,” he warned“, A section of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards.
First, the passports of all the group members were revoked, although they were still allowed to stay in Argentina and stay at the hotel.
According to Minister Fernandez, last Friday, Venezuelans were given the authority to withdraw their passports so that they could “board the plane and leave without any difficulty”.
In the case of the five Iranian travelers, the situation was different.
This Monday, Federal Judge Federico Villana ordered the further detention of the passports of five Iranian employees for another 72 hours. According to local newspapers, the magistrate had earlier ordered the registration of the fingerprints of these persons.
The Iranians were identified in the warrant as Mohammed Kosrawiarak, Kolam Reza Qasemi, Mahdi Moussali, Saeed Wali Jade and Abdolbaset Mohammed.
Hours after Judge Villana’s decision was announced, Federal prosecutor Cecilia Incardona called for an investigation into whether the five Iranians were linked to terrorism.
The officer also asked the court to order the secrecy of the case, a decision which was later accepted by the judge.
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