Police officers on Tuesday searched the hotel where the Venezuelan
and Iranian crew of a mysterious plane that remains stuck at Buenos
Aires’ main international airport have been staying as authorities
blocked its exit amid suspicions about its crew and U.S. sanctions
against Iran.
Federal Judge Federico Villena ordered the raid at
Hotel Plaza Canning, outside Buenos Aires, which has housed the crew of
the Venezuelan-owned Boeing 747-3B3(M) (23413/632) YV3531 cargo plane loaded with automative
parts.
The plane has been stuck at Argentina’s largest airport
since June 6 as Argentine authorities have seized the passports of the
five Iranians who are among the at least 17 crew members who arrived in
Argentina aboard the plane.
Argentina’s Security Minister, AnÃbal
Fernández, said that the government received information from foreign
intelligence agencies that at least some of the Iranian crew were part
of “companies related to the Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guard of
Iran,” which has been officially listed as a terrorist organization by
the U.S. government since 2007.
There do not appear to be any warrants out for the arrest of any of the crewmembers.
There
are numerous suspicions surrounding the plane, including the way in
which its operators reported a lower number of crew members than were
actually aboard, an unusually large contingent for a cargo plane.
Until
it was sold to Emtrasur Cargo on February 9, 2022, the plane had been owned by
Mahan Air (EP-MND / EK-74713) of Iran, which the U.S. government has sanctioned for
allegedly aiding the Quds Force and terrorist activities.
The
plane had stopped in other Latin American countries, including Paraguay
and Mexico, in earlier months, according to flight tracking services.
Opposition leaders in Argentina have criticized the government for allowing the plane to land in the country.
Argentine
authorities insist they have not found any irregularities in the
plane’s crew and the head of the Federal Intelligence Agency, AgustÃn
Rossi, criticized the opposition for linking it to international
terrorism.
Rossi said the plane carried cargo for several
Argentine auto parts companies that it loaded in Mexico before stopping
by Caracas and arriving in Argentina on June 6. It first landed in the
central city of Córdoba due to weather conditions that prevented it from
landing in Ezeiza, just outside Buenos Aires.
“The plane’s cargo was verified in all manners possible,” Rossi told a local radio station.
The
unusually large crew had earlier raised suspicions in Paraguay, where
the plane landed last month in Ciudad del Este, close to the Argentina
and Brazil borders, where it remained between May 13 and May 16,
Paraguay’s interior minister, Federico González, told a local radio
station on Wednesday.
The plane landed in Paraguay with “18 crew
members, of which seven were Iranians and 11 Venezuelans,” Douglas
Cubilla, head of airports at Paraguay’s National Civil Aeronautics
Directorate, had told a local radio station on May 18. “Cargo planes
always have six or seven crew members” and the large number of
crew members “caught our eye.”
Two directorate officials, including
the head of the Ciudad del Este airport, have been removed from their
posts as a result of irregularities involving the plane, González said.
It
was only after the plane left Paraguay that officials learned it
"belonged to an Iranian company that is suspended with sanctions by the
U.S. Treasury Department” and that the Iranian crew were part of the
Quds Force, González said.
The plane appears to have transported cigarettes out of Ciudad del Este, González said.
González
said Paraguay alerted intelligence agencies in the region about the
plane and its crew, although he did not specify when that took place.
Uruguay had earlier rejected entry of the plane to its airspace before it landed in Argentina.
Argentina
suffered two terrorist attacks that authorities blame on Iran, a 1992
explosion at the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires and another at a Jewish
organization in 1994. Argentina is seeking the arrest of several
Iranian officials, though Iran denies involvement.
(Almudena Calatrava - Associated Press)
