A Paraguayan minister revealed on Tuesday that the crew of the Venezuelan-Iranian plane that arrived in the country last May had contacts with at least two foreigners and one Paraguayan investigated for human trafficking and drug trafficking.
“During the time that this crew was in Ciudad del Este, they had contact with people who are being investigated for international human trafficking and drug trafficking,” said the minister of the National Anti-Corruption Secretariat (Senac), René Fernández.
The official told reporters after referring to the case of the plane seized in Argentina during an appearance before a commission made up of deputies and senators to investigate money laundering and other related crimes in the country.
The head of Senac indicated that these people, whom he described as two foreigners and a Paraguayan, have criminal records and proceedings in progress in the country.
Fernández added that those named had contact with the entire crew, and confirmed that they informed the Paraguayan Public Ministry of the fact.
Without specifying details, he pointed out that the conversations would probably have taken place in public places, although he acknowledged that one of them would naturally have been the hotel where the 18 crew members (7 Iranians and 11 Venezuelans) spent the night.
The aircraft, which remains in Argentina under investigation for alleged terrorism, was between May 13 and 16 in the Guaraní airportwhich serves Ciudad del Este (on the border with Argentina and Brazil), from where it shipped cigarettes to Aruba.
Fernández admitted that one of the aspects that the Paraguayan authorities seek to determine is what was the purpose of the presence of these citizens in this area of the country.
“If it was due only to this export operation or had another purpose,” added the minister.
In any case, he acknowledged that the main theory they investigate is that of a front operation.
For his part, the Minister of the Interior, Federico González, told the radio station ABC Cardinal that the information handled by the local authorities indicates that the plane’s crew did not cross by land from Paraguay to Brazil.