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Paraguayan authorities say that a Venezuelan airline crew member held in Argentina is related to the Quds Forces

2022-06-17T21:22:04.434Z


Paraguayan intelligence official said that a crew member of the Venezuelan plane held in Argentina is linked to the Quds Forces.


Change the focus of the Argentine investigation to the Venezuelan plane 1:13

(CNN Spanish) --

A Paraguayan intelligence official said this Friday that one of the crew members of the Venezuelan plane that is being held in Argentina is a person linked to the Quds Forces, of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard of Iran, which in both cases are classified as terrorist groups by the United States.

"According to what we know, and allied agencies confirmed to us, it is a person linked to the Quds. Without any doubt. It is not similar, it is not a homonym or anything, it is the person. And that without any doubt per se already it is worrying," Paraguay's National Intelligence Secretary (SNI), Esteban Aquino, told ABC radio station.

  • They investigate five Iranian crew members of a Venezuelan plane that was stranded in Argentina

CNN communicated with the spokesman for the Presidency, the Ministry of Security and the Argentine Federal Intelligence Agency to find out if they have reached this conclusion in their investigations and are still waiting for a response.

At a press conference this Wednesday, the Argentine Security Minister, Aníbal Fernández, had declared that one of the crew would be a "namesake" of a member of Quds.

The plane of the Venezuelan state airline Emtrasur has remained at the Ezeiza International Airport, in the province of Buenos Aires, since June 8.

The ship was recently acquired by Emtrasur from the Iranian airline Mahan Air, according to Argentine authorities.

On May 13, the same aircraft landed at the Guaraní Airport, in Ciudad del Este, Paraguay, according to the Minister of the Interior of that country, Federico González.

Emtrasur has not yet responded to CNN's requests for comment.

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Amir Hossein Zol-Anvari, manager of Mahan Air's public relations office, confirmed to the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) that the plane in question was sold to the Venezuelan company.

"The arrest of the plane whose ownership was transferred a year ago is due to political objectives, the crew has been working for the Venezuelan company and the issue has nothing to do with Mahan Air," he said.

For his part, the spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Said Khatibzadeh, referred to the incident with the plane and said, according to Agence France Press, that "the last few weeks have been full of propaganda, psychological operations, war of words to provoke a feeling of insecurity (in Iran) and this case is part of that."

Ignacio Grimaldi contributed to this report.

Source: cnnespanol

All news articles on 2022-06-17

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