2024: The Biden Administration Destroyed a Venezuelan Commercial Cargo Plane                                The plane was worth $ 80 million.

US Export Control Laws impose requirements on commercial aircraft.[1] A license is required for exports, re-exports or other transfers, including sales and leases of commercial aircraft. The restrictions apply to aircraft that are US-origin. In contrast to export control laws of most other countries, U.S. export controls regulate transfers everywhere in the world, even if the transaction is between non-US-persons and takes place outside the United States.[1]

The Boeing Company manufactured a B747-300M in the United States and sold the plane to UTA (Union de Transports Aeriens) in January 1986. The aircraft subsequently served as a passenger jet with Air France from 1992 to 2006, Garuda Indonesia from 2006 to 2007 and Mahan Air, a privately owned Iranian airline, from 2009 to 2021.  After the plane was reconfigured from a passenger carrier into a cargo carrier, it was sold in October 2021 to a Venezuelan air cargo transport company Emtrasur, which was a subsidiary of the national airline, Conviasa. The plane was the only one Emtrasur owned. 

The Emtrasur plane made its inaugural flight on February 11, 2022, traveling from Minsk, Belarus to Caracas. It contained 24 tons of medicine. The plane made several flights to Iran and Russia returning with shipments of insulin and spare parts for the oil industry. The plane made a flight from Paraguay transporting tobacco to Mexico. On June 4,2022, the plane was loaded with 50 tons of auto parts from Mexico for automobile factories in Argentina. Alerts from Paraguay cited anomalies in the passenger list and an unusually high number of crew members including Iranians.

Argentinian authorities detained the plane and its crew on June 8, 2022 after it landed at Ezeiza International Airport. The plane carried 14 Venezuelan nationals and five Iranians who were taken for questioning. The Venezuelan and Iranian governments said that the Iranians were assisting and training the Venezuelan crew in the operation of the plane.

The aircraft and its shipment were subjected to several inspections which yielded no irregularities. The aircraft’s cargo was cleared and released on July 25, 2022. All 19 Venezuelans and Iranians who had been on the plane were released by September 14, 2022 after the Courts in Argentina determined they had committed no crime.

On August 2, 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a request for Argentinian authorities to confiscate the plane on the grounds that Mahan Air had transferred custody of the plane without US government authorization and, as a result, the transfer violated US export control laws.[2] On February 11, 2024, the plane was transferred to the US Department of Justice. The next day, it was flown to the United States to Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport in Florida. The 747 was scrapped on February 28, 2024. The Venezuelan government stated that the plane was worth US$80 million. [3] U.S Attorney Markenzy Lapointe said that:” The successful seizure of the Boeing 747underscores our commitment to prevent the illegal exportation of U.S. technologies and enforce U.S. export control laws.” [4]                           


1.      Clifford Chance, US Export Controls Need to be Part of Your Pre-Flight Checklist for Commercial Aircraft Transfers,6/21.

2.      U.S. Department of Justice, U.S.Justice Department Seeks Seizure of Boeing 747 Cargo Plane Grounded in Argentina, August 2, 2022.

3.      Venezuelanalysis, Gov’t Demands Compensation for Seized airplane, Closes Airspace to Argentina, 3/13/2024.

4.      U.S. Department of Justice, Former Iranian-Owned Boeing Aircraft Successfully Returned to the U.S.,2/12/2024

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