A Venezuelan-Iranian plane that was seized in Buenos Aires last week unsuccessfully tried to land last Wednesday in Montevideo. The fact was confirmed to El Observador by Argentine judicial sources with access to the file.
It is a Boeing 747 Dreamliner from the Emtrasur company, which had landed last Monday at the Córdoba airport, due to the fog that hit the City of Buenos Aires and its surroundings.
The plane from Venezuela, sanctioned by the United States, was seized and the Argentine authorities seized the passports of twelve Venezuelans and five Iranians who were on board the aircraft.
The sources indicated that on Wednesday, June 8, after flying over the Río de La Plata for 20 minutes the planelanded again in Ezeiza at 11:44, after Uruguay did not allow the plane to land, closing the skies to the ship subject to the sanctions of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).
The truncated attempt to land in Montevideo was pointed out by the defense attorney for the passengers, Rafael Resnick Brenner in his brief before the court.
“This aircraft would currently be prohibited from using the airspaces of Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay and Chile. Collaborate with OFAC-sanctioned targets generates the risk of receiving sanctions and in some cases, of being classified as cooperating with organizations linked to international terrorism,” he said.
Once he arrived in Ezeiza, he was received by the Airport Security Police (PSA) together with Customs, the Federal Police and the Migration Directorate. The forces carried out the procedure, following information provided by intelligence from various world agencies. “There are two hypotheses: the first is whether the Iranians are spies or whether they are a training team for large planes, as they themselves declared to the Argentine authorities”told El Observador a source with access to the case.
Another suspicion is that the five people with Iranian nationality were connected with alleged links to the Quds Forces. This Force responds to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which specializes in asymmetric warfare, in addition to military intelligence operations. At the same time, they are responsible for carrying out activities outside the borders of Iran.
This Sunday the Argentine federal judge Federico Villena should resolve the Habeas Corpus filed by Rafael Resnick Brenner on the five Iranians and twelve Venezuelans.
