Judge prohibits the departure of Argentina to the entire crew of the Venezuelan plane under investigation

The justice prohibited this Tuesday the exit of Argentina of 14 Venezuelans, part of the crew of a Venezuelan-flagged cargo plane that also includes five Iranians whose passports had previously been withheld, judicial sources reported.

The measure was taken by the federal judge of Lomas de Zamora, Federico Villenaafter a search carried out in his presence by the federal police to the hotel rooms where the crew members of the Boeing 747detained since June 8 at the Ezeiza international airport.

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In the operation that began at dawn and lasted for seven hours cell phones, personal computers and different types of documentation were seizedaccording to a police source.

The case is under summary secrecy.

The hotel is located in the town of Ezeizaclose to the international airport of Buenos Aires, 40 km from the capital and on its ground floor it has a shopping center with numerous shops and restaurants.

The facade of the hotel where the crew of the Boeing 747-300 of the Venezuelan airline Emtrasur Cargo is staying. (JUAN MABROMATA / AFP).

None of the crew has impediment to transit in and out of the hotel.

The ban on Venezuelans leaving the country is added to a measure applied since Monday on Iranian crew members before “the reasonable suspicion that the reason given when entering (to Argentina) might not be the real or true one,” according to the court ruling.

The aircraft, which arrived in Argentina on June 6 from Mexico and then unsuccessfully tried to travel to Uruguay, belongs to the company Emtrasura subsidiary of the Venezuelan Conviasaunder US Treasury sanctions.

Argentina considers the presence of Iranian travelers sensitive, due to the red capture alerts issued by Interpol that apply to former rulers of that country, accused of the attack against the AMIA Jewish center in 1994 that left 85 dead and some 300 injured.

The Delegation of Argentine Israelite Associations (DAIA) requested to be part of the lawsuit in the judicial investigation into the plane case.

Source: Elcomercio