For the first time since a mysterious Boeing 747 cargo plane was impounded by Argentinian authorities on June 6, a local official indicated that a foreign element revealed on Monday that several of the flight's crew belong to the clandestine Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
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The Quds Force has been officially listed as a terrorist organization by the US government since 2007, along with the entire IRGC.
The plane – reportedly carrying a load of automotive parts and an unusually large crew of 19, including at least five Iranians – was originally owned by Iran's Mahan Air and was then sold a year ago to Venezuela's state-owned Emtrasur cargo line.
Argentinian Security Minister Aníbal Fernández said Monday that the government and legal authorities are studying the situation, which has become an unfolding drama that is throwing a spotlight on political undercurrents in Latin America.
He said foreign intelligence agencies "advised that part of the crew belonged to companies related to the Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guard of Iran."
Fernández also said that the plane's operators had reported a smaller number of crew members than were actually aboard – an unusually large contingent for a cargo plane. It was carrying parts for an automotive assembly plant, though he did not specify which one.
Argentina grounds Iran-linked Venezuelan cargo plane
'Among these five Iranians, one of them is being marked by Argentina's judicial authorities as a member of the IRGC... We are speaking about the pilot, Gholamreza Ghasemi,' says @damianpachter, anchor at i24NEWS' ÑEWS24 pic.twitter.com/BglqzhsOJB
— i24NEWS English (@i24NEWS_EN) June 13, 2022
Until being sold to Emtrasur about a year ago, the plane had been owned by Mahan Air of Iran, a line the US government has sanctioned for allegedly aiding the Quds Force and terrorist activities. Numerous foreign companies over the years have been sanctioned for doing business with Mahan.
A spokesman for Mahan Air, Hossein Zolanvari, earlier told the state-run IRNA news agency that his company sold the Boeing to a Venezuelan company about a year ago.
"Mentioning Mahan Air in connection with the impounded airplane has aimed at political purposes," he said. He said the plane's crew also have no connection to Mahan Air.
On Sunday, Argentine lower-house lawmaker Gerardo Milman, who has raised attention about the case in recent days, presented a complaint to a judge asking to fingerprint the crew and share the information with the Federal Intelligence Agency.
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"Our information is that this is a plane that has come to conduct intelligence in Argentina," said Milman, a member of the country's Congressional Intelligence Commission.
The plane's crew members have been lodged at a hotel and Fernandez said the Venezuelans are free to leave if they want, while the Iranians can move about in the capital.
Fernandez said the plane had stopped in Paraguay in May. On June 6, it was headed for Ezeiza airport on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, but climatic conditions forced it to stop instead in the city of Cordoba before finally reaching the Argentine capital, where it attracted the attention of immigration authorities, who confiscated the crew's passports.
Emtrasur began flying this year, operating out of the Venezuelan military's Libertador Air Base.
Flight tracking services show the plane also had made stops in earlier months in Mexico and Venezuela.
