A Boeing 747-300M freighter belonging to Venezuela's state-owned Empresa de Transporte Aéreocargo del Sur (EMTRASUR) is in the sights of the US Department of Justice (DOJ) after Argentinian authorities grounded the plane in June. While Argentina is concerned about people traveling on the jumbo jet having possible terror links, the DOJ wants the jumbo flown up to the US so that they can confiscate it for violations of US export control laws.
The DOJ wants the EMTRASUR Boeing for violating export control laws
At the center of the dispute is a 36-year-old Boeing 747-300M freighter (registration YV3531) that flew into Buenos Aires' Ezeiza International Airport (EZE) on June 6 and was barred from departing two days later. The jumbo is EMTRASUR's only aircraft, and before heading there earlier this year, it flew for UTA, Air France, and more recently, Mahan Airlines.
There were 19 people on the freighter when it landed in Argentina. What raised red flags were concerns some of those people had links to terror groups. The jumbo's Captain, Gholamreza Ghasemi, was quickly identified as an ex-commander for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and a shareholder and member of the board of Iranian airline Qeshm Fars Air. The US (and many other countries) have designated the IRGC Qods Force as a terrorist organization. Qeshm Fars Air is also on the nose with countries worldwide for providing material support to the IRGC Qods Force.
Argentina holds on to the plane and some of the crew
An Argentinian court has since cut 12 of the 19 people onboard the plane loose but is holding on to seven of them (including Captain Ghasemi) and the plane. The grounded group comprises four Iranians and three Venezuelans.
While the Argentinians work through their investigation, the DOJ has come out swinging, sending an aircraft seizure warrant down to Buenos Aires last month. The DOJ says the jumbo jet is subject to forfeiture because it was transferred from Mahan Air without US approval and is in violation of US export control laws. Mahan Air is an Iranian airline affiliated with the IRGC Qods Force and is also subject to various US orders.
"As alleged in the seizure warrant, in or around October 2021, Mahan Air violated the Temporary Denial Order and US export control laws when it transferred custody and control of the Boeing aircraft to EMTRASUR without US Government authorization," says a DOJ statement. "Additional violations of US export control laws subsequently occurred between February and May 2022 when EMTRASUR reexported the aircraft between Caracas, Venezuela; Tehran, Iran; and Moscow, Russia, without US Government authorization."
Concerns the plane was used as a cover for Iranian intelligence activities
Because YV3531 was manufactured at Boeing's Everett plant back in the mid-1980s, it is a "US-origin" product captured by those US laws. But Venezuela wants the plane back, and Mahan Air denies all links to its now ex-aircraft. Unfortunately, a search of the aircraft after it landed in Buenos Aires found a Mahan Air flight log documenting the aircraft's flights after its supposed transfer to EMTRASUR. The legalese coming from the DOJ is a bit of a distraction from the main show - concerns in many countries that the old 747-300 freighter was been used for Iranian intelligence operations in the Americas.
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Among the flights documented in the seized log book was an April trip to Tehran, a May flight to Paraguay to pick up cigarettes, and stopovers in Mexico and Venezuela before the ill-fated June flight to Buenos Aires. Authorities in multiple jurisdictions are now investigating the aircraft and its activities.
The matter was back before the Argentinian Courts earlier this week. So far, Argentina hasn't acceded to the US request and the jumbo jet remains firmly on the ground at Ezeiza International Airport.