Citing the violation of American export control laws, the U.S. government has completed the seizure of a Boeing 747 cargo aircraft, that was previously sold by a sanctioned Iranian airline to a state-owned Venezuelan firm.
The Justice Department said Monday that the American-built plane had arrived in Florida and would be disposed of. Its press release said,
The Department of Justice today completed enforcement of a final order for forfeiture of a U.S.-manufactured Boeing 747 cargo plane, previously owned by Mahan Air, a sanctioned Iranian airline affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp-Qods Force (IRGC-QF), a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO).
The freighter had earlier been transferred from Iranian airline Mahan Air , which officials have alleged provides support for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force , to Emtrasur, a Venezuelan cargo airline and subsidiary of a state-owned firm that had previously been sanctioned by the United State.
Mahan Air has for years been subject to U.S. government restrictions on its business , Assistant Secretary of Export Enforcement’s Matthew S. Axelrod said ,
“Mahan Air – known to ferry weapons and fighters for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Hizballah – violated our export restrictions by selling this airplane to a Venezuelan cargo airline. Now, it’s property of the United States government,”
“This seized airplane’s arrival in the United States is a powerful example of our unceasing efforts to prevent Iran and its proxies from leveraging and profiting from U.S. technology.”
Officials said the sale, done without U.S. government authorization, violated export control laws and also improperly benefited Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.
On Feb. 11, the government of Argentina transferred physical custody of the aircraft to the United States pursuant to the final order of forfeiture, which was issued by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on May 3, 2023, which rests all right, title, and interest in the aircraft in the United States of America.
The Boeing 747 cargo aircraft (YV3531) arrived in the Southern District of Florida via a special ferry flight TYSON23, where it will be prepared for disposition.
U.S. Attorney Markenzy Lapointe for the Southern District of Florida said ,
“The United States’ forfeiture of the Boeing 747 cargo plane culminates over 18 months of planning, coordination, and execution by the United States government and our Argentine counterparts,”
“Bad actors – both near and far – are on alert that the United States will use all its tools to hold those who violate our laws to account. The successful seizure of the Boeing 747 underscores our commitment to prevent the illegal exportation of U.S. technologies and enforce U.S. export control laws.”
“The Justice Department is committed to ensuring that the full force of U.S. laws deny hostile state actors the means to engage in malign activities that threaten our national security,” Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen, the head of the department's national security division, said in a statement.
The plane was detained in June 2022 by Argentine law enforcement, and U.S. officials moved several weeks later to take possession of it. Argentina officially transferred custody of the plane to the U.S. on Sunday, officials said.
Without any specific details in its release, the Justice Department said the Boeing Jumbo frieghter would now be "prepared for disposition."
On Sunday, members of a Venezuelan-led, left-leaning alliance condemned Argentina for its role in the plane being seized by the U.S., characterizing the actions as “theft.” The Bolivarian Alliance of the Peoples of Our America — Peoples’ Trade Treaty argued that the actions violate international law.
On Monday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Venezuela "categorically" rejected the transfer of the Venezuelan aircraft owned by the Aerocargos del Sur Transport Company (Emtradur) to Florida.
The departure occurs in the midst of a controversy over the alleged entry of the first secretary of the Venezuelan Embassy in the country into a prohibited area to take images of the American and Argentine officials who were preparing the departure from Ezeiza.
“This aggression is another consequence of the unilateral coercive measures imposed by the government of the United States that threaten the sovereignty of Venezuela and violate the fundamental principles of the United Nations Charter and International Law,” the group, commonly known as the Alba Alliance, said in a statement.
Venezuela has raised a complaint to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), in which it denounces the "violation" by the US and Argentina of international regulations, which, it details, generates a "serious situation of legal and operational insecurity" unprecedented in our region.
It says , among the crimes committed, the concealment of information at the time of identifying the flight, turning off the transponder on several sections of the route and others that must be independently investigated have been observed.
It also said that the Venezuelan State will exercise all actions that allow justice to be restored. and achieve the restitution of the aircraft to its legitimate owner.
Earlier, Aircraft's seizure was approved by federal judge Federico Villena, of Lomas de Zamora, after accepting a request from the United States courts, where he indicated that the aircraft had violated certain aeronautical regulations.
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