A Venezuelan-registered Boeing 747 red-flagged by the United States has been seized at Buenos Aires’ Ezeiza airport.
According to reports, twelve of the cargo aircraft occupants were of Venezuelan nationality while five others held Iranian passports.
The Venezuelan-registered Boeing 747-300 of the Emtrasur company, red-flagged by the United States, has been seized at Buenos Aires’ Ezeiza airport, after which Argentine authorities kept the passports of the seventeen crewmembers.
The aircraft had landed last Monday at Córdoba airport, due to fog preventing operations at Buenos Aires’ Ezeiza airport.
Once it completed its trip it was greeted by Airport Security Police (PSA), Customs, Federal Police and Migration Department authorities who carried out a deployment following intelligence data from several agencies worldwide.
The aircraft had already flown between Buenos Aires and Córdoba with its transponder turned off, which prevents it from being identified on air traffic control radars.
Pending the investigation, all aircraft occupants were housed at a hotel near tthe airport, while a lawyer representing them filed a habeas corpus request. Federal Judge Federico Villena also ruled that withholding the passports was a correct measure because there were “valid suspicions.”