The judiciary accepted a North American request for the return of the Boeing 747, which has been seized at Ezeiza airport since 2022
The Argentine court decided to hand over to the US court a Venezuelan plane that had been detained in the country since June 2022. Federal Judge Federico Villena granted a request from the District of Columbia. The case is subject to judicial secrecy. The information comes from Clarin.
Venezuelan, Argentinean, North American and Iranian authorities are involved in the case. There were 19 crew members on board the plane, including five Iranian citizens, whose passports were confiscated at the time, and 14 Venezuelans. They were accused of several allegations, such as violations of sanctions and links to terrorist attacks.
In response, the Venezuelan government criticized the Argentine court's “submissive decision” and said it was a “theft” of the plane. The Venezuelan Foreign Ministry published a statement on the matter. Here is the full text (PDF 47 kB).
“The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela categorically rejects and condemns the decision of the Argentine federal judge Federico Villena, which clearly serves imperial interests, to try to steal the Venezuelan plane,” he explains.
THE CASE
The Boeing 747 arrived in Argentina from Mexico on June 6, 2022 and landed in Córdoba. Then he went to Buenos Aires. The plane has been held since June 8 at Ezeiza International Airport, just over 30 km from the Argentine capital. That day he tried to fly to Uruguay but was prevented from landing and returned to Ezeiza.
According to Clarín, the plane was registered on January 23 by the airline Emtrasur, based in Caracas. Emtrasur is a subsidiary of Venezuela's Conviasa, which is on the US Treasury Department's sanctions list.
The aircraft previously belonged to the Iranian company Mahan Air for 15 years. The USA considers the Iranian company to be part of a terrorist organization.
According to Clarín, the pilot of the plane, Gholamreza Ghasemi, is also being investigated by the Argentine judiciary for possible connections to the Quds Force, the Tehran Revolutionary Guard, which is classified as a terrorist by the US authorities.