The plane of the Venezuelan airline Emtrasur Cargo that arrived in Argentina in June 2022 with Venezuelan and Iranian crew members suspected of espionage and that since then has remained in custody in Buenos Aires left this Monday at dawn heading to USAin response to a confiscation request.
(Read here: Argentine justice orders seizure of Venezuelan-Iranian plane requested by the US)
According to judicial and airport sources confirmed to Efe, the 747-300M Dreamliner cargo, which was owned by the Iranian company Mahan Air and currently belongs to Emtrasur, a subsidiary of the Venezuelan state company Conviasa, companies that are sanctioned by the United States Department of the Treasurydeparted at 1:30 am from the Buenos Aires International Airport, in the town of Ezeiza.
(See also: These are the 5 Iranians held in Argentina who were on a Venezuelan plane)
The crew that had arrived on the plane in Argentina on June 6, 2022, which was made up of five Iranians and fourteen Venezuelanswas initially detained by Justice and later released by federal judge Federico Villena due to lack of evidence for the crime of financing terrorist activities.
The Venezuelan embassy in Buenos Aires violated the security of the Emtrasur Cargo plane by taking photos of it on February 6
The plane had arrived in Argentina from Mexico and after making a stopover in Venezuela. Two days later he left Argentina to refuel in Uruguay, but had to return to the Ezeiza airport because the neighboring country did not authorize his landing.
Upon his return to Ezeiza, The Argentine Justice ordered the ship to be immobilized and ruled that the 19 crew members of the plane could not leave the country.. As the investigation progressed, the ship remained in Buenos Aires, but the crew members were released.
The justification for Washington's claim is that it was an Iranian entity sanctioned by the United States Department of Commerces the one that transferred the plane – made in the United States – to a third party, something prohibited precisely for the purposes of the sanction.
Two years ago, the Argentine police detained the plane's crew (file photo).
EFE/ Juan Ignacio Roncoroni
The decision to seize and hand over the detained plane was adopted by the Argentine Justice in consideration of a treaty signed by Argentina and the United Statesby which both countries “committed to providing mutual assistance,” including “cooperation in the execution of search, seizure and seizure requests.”
The decision of the Argentine Justice provoked a harsh reaction from the Venezuelan authorities, who demanded “the immediate return of the aircraft” on December 30 in a statement that expressed that the treaty between Argentina and the United States “cannot be applied to a third State because it would be in clear violation of the obligations assumed in multilateral agreements,” which establish “procedures to resolve this type of dispute.”
Before the departure of the plane, a confusing episode occurred, when the second from the Venezuelan embassy in Buenos Aires violated the security of the Emtrasur Cargo plane by taking photos of it on February 6 accompanied by an official from the National Civil Aviation Administration, for which he was declared persona non grata and left the country within the following 48 hours.
EFE
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