Shafaq News- Najaf
The training aircraft seized by Iraq's Border PortsCommission at Umm Qasr Port in Basra Province had been legally imported from Canada for use at alocal technical university, a Najaf provincial official said Saturday, contradictingthe commission's earlier characterization of the aircraft as smuggled goods.
Iraq's Border Ports Commission announced Friday thatit had seized the training aircraft found inside a shipping container at UmmQasr Port, “as part of a broader anti-smuggling operation at the port,” citingits presence at the facility without the owner coming forward to complete therequired legal procedures.
The official told Shafaq News that Najaf'sprovincial government had contracted to purchase the aircraft for the aviationengineering department of the Technical Engineering College at Al-FuratAl-Awsat Technical University, with the stated purpose of student training. Heput the purchase price at 350 million Iraqi dinars (about $267K), adding thatthe aircraft had been held at the port for five months due to proceduraldifficulties in completing the clearance process.
The official also raised a separate concern aboutthe authorities' handling of the aircraft during the seizure operation, when thecommission had released the preservative gas used to protect the aircraft duringtransport, a step he warned could expose it to damage and deterioration.