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Tensions have arisen after The Wall Street Journal published a report claiming a plane loaded with weapons from North Korea that was recently impounded in Bangkok was bound for Iran and stopped at an air force base in Azerbaijan.
The flight plan indicates that en route to Pyongyang the plane stopped at an air force base in Azerbaijan; the nature of that stop is unclear, the unconfirmed report said.
According to documents obtained by arms-trafficking experts, the plane was bound for Iran.
The destination of the Ilyushin-76, which Thai authorities have said carried 35 tons of armaments, has been unknown. Thai officials said the plane flew to Pyongyang via Bangkok to collect its cargo, then returned to Bangkok to refuel on December 11. It was seized during that stop and its five crew members were detained by Thai police, The Wall Street Journal said.
A flight plan for the IL-76, obtained by researchers in the U.S. and Belgium, shows that after Bangkok the plane was due to make refueling stops in Sri Lanka, the United Arab Emirates and Ukraine before unloading its cargo in Tehran. Iranian officials didn't respond to requests for comment.
The apparent links among the military cargo, North Korea and Iran raise fresh questions about how nations try to evade international sanctions. The United Nations Security Council has banned the sale of small and heavy weapons from North Korea and all weapons sales from Iran.
Silence similar to Tehran’s is observed in Azerbaijan, with officials neither confirming nor refuting the report. Elkhan Polukhov, the spokesman for the Azerbaijan Foreign Ministry, has told Radio Liberty that, since international weapons smuggling is not a subject of foreign policy, the ministry does not deal with the issue and therefore has no information to that end. According to Polukhov, this is, rather, a matter addressed by the Ministries of Defense and National Security.
The National Security Ministry spokesman Arif Babayev did not issue a statement but offered advice. "We have absolutely no information about this fact. Address your questions to the US Central Intelligence Agency, which issued the report," he told Radio Liberty.
The Defense Ministry spokesman Eldar Sabiroglu said after a scrutiny that took several hours: "The Defense Ministry has no information at all about the plane detained in Bangkok."
Asked in which cases a civilian plane is allowed to land at a military airport, Sabiroglu declined comment.
Only state airline AzAL has voiced its attitude on the matter. Maharram Safarli, the AzAL spokesman, said the plane has not landed in Azerbaijani territory and that the allegations are "a lie."
Military analyst Uzeyir Jafarov maintains that Azerbaijani officials’ being reserved in their comments is incomprehensible. "If such an object flew over Azerbaijan’s air space, official bodies should definitely be aware of that."
As for a civilian plane landing at a military airport, the analyst said this is possible in exclusive cases.
"If there is some malfunction, the plane may land at a military airport upon authorization of the country in question. But in this case I am somewhat doubtful on that."
The Nasosny airport near the capital Baku where the plane allegedly took off has been upgraded to NATO standards.
Ilham Ismayil, the head of "Security" research center, explains the alleged landing of the plane in the Azerbaijani airport with other reasons.
"The plane filled with arms and ammunition detained in Bangkok, even when flying to North Korea for its consignment, did not land in Baku just to load fuel, another reason is also possible. Landing at Nasosny could have been aimed at misleading the trace," Ismayil opined.
The Wall Street Journal referred to the information presented in a joint draft report by analysts at TransArms, based in Chicago, and the International Peace Information Service, or IPIS, of Antwerp, Belgium. Both organizations conduct research on conflicts around the world, including how they are financed and supplied with weapons. A draft copy of the report was provided to The Wall Street Journal. The report hasn't been independently confirmed.
US State Department spokesman Darby Holladay declined to comment on the seizure of the weapons and referred questions to the Thai government.
It remains unclear whether Iran intended to use the weapons itself. Western governments have accused Iran of supporting militants in Lebanon, the Palestinian territories and Iraq.
Thai officials say they have received little information from the plane's crew. The crew say they were told the cargo was oil-drilling equipment and have denied knowing there were weapons aboard.
Police in Bangkok unload boxes of weapons from the seized IL-76. The plane followed what an arms-trafficking expert called "an unusual flight plan."
The flight documents obtained by TransArms and IPIS state that the cargo is "oil industry spare parts." The flight's planners appear to have worked hard to maintain appearances. A packing list includes eight categories of equipment, such as "Geothermal rigs spare parts -- model MTEC6". Thai officials have said the actual cargo included shoulder-launched missiles, parts for surface-to-air missiles and electronic systems to control weapons.
Arms-trafficking specialists have puzzled over the stop in Bangkok, an airport that is heavily policed because of the drug trade.
A question still unanswered is who organized the weapons shipment. It appears the planners went to great lengths to hide their identities. The plane is registered to a company in the Republic of Georgia, Air West Ltd. Air West on November 5 leased it to another firm, SP Trading Ltd., according to an Air West manager and a contract seen by The Wall Street Journal. SP Trading, registered in New Zealand, appears to be a shell company owned by other companies.
In another contract dated December 4, discussed in the report by TransArms and IPIS and seen by the Journal, SP Trading leased the plane to a Hong Kong-based company. The Hong Kong company is owned by a second Hong Kong firm, which is owned by a third firm, based in the British Virgin Islands, according to company registration documents. These companies appear to have organized the cargo, The Wall Street Journal said.
An Air West manager said the company had leased the plane to SP Trading and he knew no more. Officials from SP Trading couldn't be located.
The Georgian-registered IL-76 plane is owned by a company based in the United Arab Emirates, according to information in the draft report confirmed by Georgian aviation officials. The company, Overseas Cargo FZE, is based in Sharjah, one of the UAE’s seven emirates.
An UAE official confirmed that the IL-76 landed in the country on December 9. The plane refueled and took off with an empty cargo hold, the official said.*