Stranded for 616 days. The Venezuelan-Iranian plane detained in Ezeiza was seized by the Biden government and is already in the US.By Cecilia Devanna

This morning, under the command of American agents, the plane took off. Venezuelan-Iranian origin who had been held at the Ezeiza international airport since June 6, 2022 in the middle of a complex judicial framework. The news of the aircraft’s departure was confirmed to THE NATION by sources of the national Executive Branch. The aircraft has already arrived on US soil, but for security reasons the city and the airport where it did so were not reported after flying from Ezeiza.

At the beginning of the year, the judge in the case, Federico Villena, gave rise to the confiscation requested by the United States. It was after a ruling, in the same sense, from the prosecutor Cecilia Incardona. From the beginning of the investigation, it was suspected that its crew members, Venezuelans and Iranians, could be carrying out espionage tasks, although there was no evidence to prosecute or dismiss them, so all those involved ended up with a lack of merit.

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The seizure had been requested by US authorities for some time, but was delayed because the government of Alberto Fernández had withheld the international diplomatic order not to enter into conflict with Venezuela. “I understand that the request is formally appropriate, as it meets the legal requirements of admissibility established by the International Legal Assistance Treaty between Argentina and the United States“, concluded prosecutor Incardona at the beginning of the year.

The seizure of the aircraft, a Boeing 747-300 registered YV3531, belonged to the Venezuelan company Emtrasur, had been requested by Justice and the United States government, following the irregular transfer by the Iranian airline Mahan Air. For the United States, the sale of Mahan Air to the Venezuelan Conviasa violated the embargo against that airline and Iranso since that happened he wanted to confiscate it, understanding that a North American law was violated that prohibits negotiating North American goods with companies listed as suspected of terrorism.

Gholamreza Ghasemi (pilot) and Mahdi Museli (co-pilot) of the Boeing 747 of the Emtrasur company that was stranded in Ezeiza

For the Americans, the situation around the aircraft worsened between February and May 2022, because the Venezuelan company agreed that the plane will travel from Caracas to Tehran and Moscow. It was shortly after that that the aircraft set foot on Argentine soil in the middle of a situation that did not then attract the attention of the Airport Security Police (PSA).

On June 6, he arrived at the Ezeiza airport with a load of auto parts, but it was only two days later that all the alarms went off. When the plane took off and was preparing to land in Uruguay, the neighboring country denied it landing. The aircraft She then had to return to Buenos Aires to refuel and was then detained in the country along with the crew: fifteen Venezuelans and four Iranians., who were investigated and ultimately benefited from the lack of merit and left the country in the last year. Now it was time to confiscate the plane.

Irregularities

At the beginning of this month, the case added a new judicial chapter. It was when a Venezuelan diplomat was momentarily delayed by the Airport Security Police.

The diplomat arrived at the aircraft in the company of an official from the National Civil Aviation Administration (ANAC)in a restricted sector of the air station, got out of a car and began taking photos of the aircraft.

Sources with knowledge of the case indicated that the episode occurred on February 5 and that the diplomat who was trying to take the photos was identified by the PSA as José Jesús Jatar Díazfirst secretary of the Venezuelan embassy in Argentina, who was detained and finally released by the federal justice system of Lomas de Zamora.

“He drove a car to the side of the plane and took photos of it. It is being investigated who authorized it, who allowed the entrance to the place, because taking photos of a plane is not a crime. The ANAC was controlled by La Cámpora,” an official then slipped to THE NATION.

Cecilia Devanna

Themes

PlaneVenezuelaIranUnited StatesPolitical news

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