Turkey found weapons on an Iranian aircraft that was forced to land in the southeast of the country on March 19 and arrested the plane’s crew, the Dogan news agency reported Tuesday.
The cargo plane was headed to Syria from Iran, the news agency in Istanbul said on its Web site.
Turkish officials found weapons including rocket launchers, mortars and automatic rifles, Dogan said. The Iranian plane, an Ilyushin Il-76TD, has been impounded at the airport in the city of Diyarbakir, it said.
The government is checking whether the consignment was registered with international aviation authorities, Dogan said.
The grounding of the plane followed a similar incident last week in which a Syria-bound Iranian aircraft was forced to land in Diyarbakir, searched and later released.
On Sunday, military fighter planes were on hand in case the civilian Ilyushin aircraft's crew refused to comply with the Turkish authorities order to land.
Inspection of the plane's cargo was reportedly ongoing.
The plane inspected last week on Tuesday was found carrying 150 tons of food, but no "material contrary to international standards,” Turkish authorities said.
Earlier reports had suggested that the aircraft had been carrying arms or nuclear material.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry on Sunday denied an earlier Dogan news agency report that Turkish military jets forced the plane to land at Diyarbakir airport to search it for arms.
The ministry said it is standard procedure for Iranian cargo planes to request permission to fly over Turkey, and sometimes they are required to make unscheduled landings to be searched.
http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=213323
http://english.cri.cn/6966/2011/03/22/1821s627961.htm
The cargo plane was headed to Syria from Iran, the news agency in Istanbul said on its Web site.
Turkish officials found weapons including rocket launchers, mortars and automatic rifles, Dogan said. The Iranian plane, an Ilyushin Il-76TD, has been impounded at the airport in the city of Diyarbakir, it said.
The government is checking whether the consignment was registered with international aviation authorities, Dogan said.
The grounding of the plane followed a similar incident last week in which a Syria-bound Iranian aircraft was forced to land in Diyarbakir, searched and later released.
On Sunday, military fighter planes were on hand in case the civilian Ilyushin aircraft's crew refused to comply with the Turkish authorities order to land.
Inspection of the plane's cargo was reportedly ongoing.
The plane inspected last week on Tuesday was found carrying 150 tons of food, but no "material contrary to international standards,” Turkish authorities said.
Earlier reports had suggested that the aircraft had been carrying arms or nuclear material.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry on Sunday denied an earlier Dogan news agency report that Turkish military jets forced the plane to land at Diyarbakir airport to search it for arms.
The ministry said it is standard procedure for Iranian cargo planes to request permission to fly over Turkey, and sometimes they are required to make unscheduled landings to be searched.
http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=213323
http://english.cri.cn/6966/2011/03/22/1821s627961.htm
