The Paraguayan Prosecutor’s Office raided an airport on Tuesday where a Venezuelan-Iranian plane currently held in Argentina landed last May as part of an investigation for alleged international terrorism.
The Public Ministry reported on Twitter that prosecutors Alicia Sapriza and Osmar Legal are in charge of the operation at the Guaraní airport, which serves the town of Ciudad del Este, on the border with Argentina and Brazil.
The raid is carried out “in the framework of investigations related to the cargo plane that was retained in Argentina,” according to the agency.
Last Wednesday, the Paraguayan Prosecutor’s Office announced that it would open an investigation into the entry into the country of the Venezuelan-Iranian plane.
The Public Ministry reported that the investigation will seek to “investigate the events that occurred and determine the conduct that could have criminal relevance.”
The process was launched after a communication from an official of the security subdirectorate of the National Directorate of Civil Aeronautics (Dinac), said the Prosecutor’s Office.
That same day, the government of the president of Paraguay, Mario Abdo Benítez, filed a criminal complaint with the Public Ministry of his country as a result of the plane case, for the alleged “punishable acts of terrorist association and financing of terrorism.”
The plane of the Iranian company Mahan Air, which currently belongs to Emtrasur, a subsidiary of the state-owned Consortium of Aeronautical Industries and Air Services (Conviasa), landed on May 13 in Paraguay and left on the 16th with a load of cigarettes destined for to Aruba.
The Paraguayan government has indicated that 18 crew members were traveling on the ship, 11 Venezuelans and 7 Iranians, of whom at least one has been identified by local officials, citing reports from the United States, of alleged links to terrorism.