President Alberto Fernández assured that “there was no irregularity” on the part of the national government with the issue of the plane with Venezuelan registration retained at the Ezeiza airport, and considered that the opposition wanted to “show something that is not.”
“They wanted to show something that is not, some obscure thing or movement by the government, but we acted quickly. The opposition tried to take advantage of it. There is a problem with the plane’s naphtha loads, because the sanctions imposed by the United States can affect who gives the gasoline to that plane. That is an issue that must be resolved,” the President said this Saturday in statements to Radio 10.
As he specified, “there is no type of restriction” on the Iranian passengers on board the plane, nor on its Venezuelan passengers.
“The opposition tried to take advantage of the issue, relating it to events as painful as the attack on the AMIA, and some even dared to denounce terrorism. These are things that unfortunately we have to live with in Argentina,” concluded the President.
Federal justice carried out an inspection this week on the plane held in Ezeiza, ordered a complete technical review and removed the two black boxes from the aircraft, sources with access to the file confirmed to Télam; At the same time, they explained that the investigators await information from foreign agencies to determine if there are elements that link the crew members with terrorism or international intelligence.
The measure ordered by Judge Federico Villena was carried out by the Department of the Anti-Terrorist Investigation Unit (DUIA) of the Federal Police, which, at the request of the prosecutor Cecilia Incardona, seized the plane’s two black boxes (one records cabin voices and the other other air navigation information).
Although the judicial file remains under summary secrecy, Télam was able to learn from reliable sources that Judge Villena and prosecutor Incardona requested information from foreign agencies to know with certainty what type of sanction weighs on the Boeing 747 aircraft of the cargo transport company Emtrasur, with Venezuelan registration YV3531, and whether there are investigations into its crew members; of particular interest is any information on the Iranian pilot Gholamreza Ghasemi.
The plane arrived in Argentina with the formal reason – justice investigates if there is any other unspeakable reason – to bring auto parts, information that was verified by the agencies in charge of exercising the respective controls.
The Emtrasur flight crew planned to continue their trip on Tuesday of last week, but that was not possible because the companies with the capacity to sell fuel refused to do so as a result of the United States Department of the Treasury sanctions on the aircraft. .
The next day, Wednesday the 8th, the attempt to refuel took place in Uruguay, a country that first authorized the air route for the Emtrasur plane but then denied access to its airspace, forcing the plane to return to Ezeiza. .
It was in this context that last night, the Venezuelan crew members of the plane that was kidnapped by the justice system at the Ezeiza international airport let their discomfort at not being able to leave the country transcend and even slipped that they would denounce that the plane was raided last week without warrant. judicial.
Through unofficial spokespersons, they released a statement in which they explained that in addition to delivering auto parts, they took advantage of the flight to continue training related to the use of the aircraft, which would explain the presence of a large crew also made up of Iranian citizens. .
From the crew environment, they pointed out that the Iranian citizens who participated in the flight did so as instructors because they are the ones who worked on that plane from 1986 until it was sold, this year, by the Iranian firm Mahan Air to the Venezuelan Emtrasur.
