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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings, Torture and Big Money |
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March 12th,
2008 - CIA Boeing Sighted in CEE |
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By the Budapest Times March 12, 2008 Budapest (MTI) - A Boeing
737 aeroplane without any markings, thought to be used for CIA rendition
flights, has been spotted recently in central and eastern Europe, said
national daily Nepszabadsag on Wednesday. The paper carries a photo of
the white plane allegedly taken at Budapest's international Ferihegy airport.
The plane bears the registration number N34315. Reports quoted by the paper
suggest that the plane is used to transport terrorist suspects from South
Asia and the Middle East to the United States. The most recent spotting was
made by a Slovak television reporter at Bratislava airport. It is the same
plane as the one photographed in Budapest in 2006, said the paper. It is also
claimed to be the same plane seen at Ireland's Shannon airport. Amateur witnesses quoted on
Hungarian internet sites say the short-haul plane assembled in 1986 has been
re-sprayed several times and its registration number replaced, said
Nepszabadsag, said the paper. The witnesses claim the same Boeing stopped on
numerous occasions in Budapest between May and October two years ago. Ferihegy airport spokesman
Domokos Szollar told the paper that charter flights between Iraq and the
United States often make stopovers in Budapest to refuel. On Tuesday, for
instance, a Boeing-767 touched down at the airport to refuel with
businesspeople on board. If military personnel are on board, he said, it is
separately indicated on the flight plan issued to Hungarian authorities. The
plane in question was logged as a commercial flight, he said. Hungarian officials at the
time of the Budapest sightings in 2006 said the Hungarian authorities could
not be sure whether CIA rendition flights had landed on Hungarian soil or
not. Hungary was not picked up as one of the countries involved in CIA
rendition activities by a European parliamentary investigation carried out at
the time. MTI contacted Hungary's
Foreign Ministry on Wednesday to comment on the publication of the photo in
Nepszabadsag. So far no official has been available for comment. External link: http://www.budapesttimes.hu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6215&Itemid=159 |