Viktor Bout Airlines and Airplane Laundering

oringially posted July 17 th 2007

Not long ago, the European Union added a whole chunk of dodgy Moldovan airlines to its flight-safety blacklist after ramp checks showed their aircraft were unsafe. Now, we have reports that the Moldovans have taken the logical next step and drained the swamp, by revoking the AOCs of the companies in question. It's bye bye to our old friends Jet Line International, but also to mystery operator Grixona (a frequent presence on the Sharjah-Iraq and Afghanistan routes), Jet Stream (another UAE-to-warzones Il76 operator), and Tiramavia (much the same). Pecotox also goes.Here's the list from ATDB:

• An-24RV (ER-AWR, msn 37308605) put in storage by Jet Line International, returned to Aerocom·
• An-24RV (ER-AZY, msn 47309310) put in storage by Aerom·
• An-24RV (ER-AZX, msn 47309804) returned to Pecotox-Air after lease to Aéro-Service then ops in Iraq·
• An-24RV (ER-AFB, msn 87310810.2)
• put in storage by Jet Line International, returned to Aerocom· Il-18V (ER-ICB, msn 188010603) put in storage by Grixona·
• An-12AP (ER-ACV, msn 347408) put in storage by Grixona· An-12TB (ER-ACQ, msn 1347908) put in storage by Grixona·
• An-12BK (ER-AXG, msn 347407) put in storage by Tiramavia·
• An-12BK (ER-AXZ, msn 8346106) put in storage by Jet Line International·
• An-12BP (ER-ADQ, msn 402410) put in storage by Jet Line International·
• An-12BP (ER-ADK, msn 5342802) put in storage by Grixona·
• An-12V (ER-ACY, msn 347306) put in storage by Grixona·
• An-12V (ER-ACS, msn 347401) put in storage by Grixona·
• An-12V (ER-ACO, msn 5343204) put in storage by Tiramavia·
• An-12V (ER-ACR, msn 6343810) put in storage by Tiramavia·
• An-26B (ER-AFE, msn 17310905) put in storage by Jet Line International·
• An-26B (ER-AFL, msn 17311705) put in storage by Jet Line International·
• An-72 (A) (ER-AVG, msn 36572095909) put in storage by Pecotox-Air·
• Il-76TD (ER-IBK, msn 53460790) put in storage by Jet Stream Airlines· Il-76TD (ER-IBY, msn 53460832) put in storage by Tiramavia·
• Il-76T (ER-IBV, msn 3423699) put in storage by Jet Line International·
• Il-76T (ER-IBF, msn 73410300) put in storage by Jet Line International·
• Il-76T (ER-IBH, msn 73411331) put in storage by Tiramavia·
• Il-76T (ER-IBD, msn 73411338) put in storage by Jet Stream Airlines·
• Il-76T (ER-IBG, msn 93418548) put in storage by Tiramavia·
• Il-76T (ER-IBP, msn 93418556) put in storage by Jet Stream Airlines·
• Il-76MD (ER-IBC, msn 83489683) put in storage by Tiramavia

It's good to see the back of the firm that brought the missing 99 tonnes of guns in Iraq, to say nothing of the mysterious "Air Bridge Group" of Australia.

Labels: 4GW, aviation, Operation Firedump, Viktor
LINK and Comments posted by Alex : 4:05 PM
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The Rest @ the Yorkshire Ranter

also Richard Chichakli appears to be backonline from Moscow

Eritrea the Head Quarters and resupply Point for the Shabab

Eritrea sending missiles, arms to Somalia, UN says

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Hugh quantities of arms are reaching Islamic insurgents in Somalia such as surface-to-air missiles from Eritrea, according to a U.N. monitoring group on consistent violations of an arms embargo.

Their recent report to the U.N. Security Council, published by the United Nations, says Somalia is awash with more arms than at any time since the early 1990s when dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was overthrown and the northeast African country was thrown into anarchy.

Most weapons have been brought into Somalia via clandestine routes and many have reached the Shabab, the fighting wing of the militant Islamic Courts Union.

"Huge quantities of arms have been provided to the Shabab by and through Eritrea," the report said, adding the Islamists had "an unknown number of surface-to-air missiles, suicide belts and explosive with timers and detonators."

Eritrea has denied sending the weapons, particularly the surface-to-air missiles. But the report showed pictures from a video of the fighters carrying SA-18 missiles, which were used against a Belarus aircraft that had made an emergency landing in Mogadishu, the capital.

The monitoring group in April also showed a Security Council sanctions committee, headed by South African Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo, a video of the actual firing of the missile, which it said was part of a consignment of six SA-18s that had been delivered by Eritrea.

Eritrea is the archrival of Ethiopia, and diplomats say the two have been waging a proxy war in Somalia since last year when Asmara backed a hard-line Islamist movement against the country's fragile government. Ethiopia sent in troops to support the government and dislodge the Islamists from Mogadishu.

NUMEROUS FLIGHTS
The monitoring group said a chartered Boeing 707 cargo plane, owned by Aerogem Aviation Ltd, based in Ghana, had made at least 13 trips from Asmara to Mogadishu, sometimes filing false flight plans.

But the flights were confirmed by the International Civil Aviation Organization, the report said.

A letter in the report by Eritrea's U.N. ambassador, Araya Desta, said the accusations were "fabricated" and part of a "subtle disinformation campaign" to cover up Ethiopian "adventurism."

Ethiopia is also not exempt from the arms embargo, even though the United Nations and the African Union support the government.

Only Uganda is exempt because its military operates under an AU flag.
Ethiopia, in its letter, said its weapons were legal because it "has been involved in Somalia at the invitation of the legitimate and international recognized Transitional Federal Government."

The United States, which believes the Islamists have close ties to al-Qaeda, conducted two air strikes in January. The monitoring group said it received information that on June 2, the U.S. Navy fired several times at suspected Al-Qaeda operatives near the coastal village of Bargal.

Asked about arms embargo violations, Zalmay Khalizad, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said in a letter that attacks against Al Qaeda were in self-defense in response to ongoing threats to the United States.

He said that the U.S. action against "known terrorist targets" did not constitute delivery of weapons to Somalia.

Despite defeats by the Ethiopians, Shabab, which attacks Ethiopian and government troops regularly, has hidden weapons caches for future use and has scattered their fighters, the report said.

Other weapons have found their way through arms dealers operating in a large arms market in Mogadishu, which sells to warlords scattered in central and southern Somalia and "is doing a brisk and lucrative business in arms sales."

Reuters