American charged in plot to smuggle airliners to Iran

FOR anyone - let alone a middle-aged aircraft mechanic from Texas - the plan to smuggle seven jetliners into Iran was audacious and risky.

It also failed.

It involved planes in China, Swiss funds and a blacklisted Iranian airline. US federal prosecutors say Diocenyr Ribamar Barbosa-Santos, 52, of Fort Worth, Texas, tried to broker the $US136.5 million ($130.5 million) deal out of Florida.

But the plan failed this month before a single Airbus A300 left the ground.
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”It’s not every day that someone walks into your office with a charge like this,” said William Barner, the lawyer representing Mr Barbosa-Santos over charges of violating federal trade restrictions. If convicted, the penalties include 20 years in prison and a $US1 million fine.

In Iran, the demand for commercial jets is becoming urgent, and the tentacles of a black market for aircraft have seeped into places close to the US.

South Florida is a hotbed of illicit transactions of all kinds, investigators say, but lately many have involved Iran.