THREAD: How are weapons from Turkey finding their way into Libya's civil war? Flying armories on Moldovan planes. In the latest installment of our Assets in Flight series @Peterkirechu tracks these planes from Turkey to Libya.
c4ads.org/blogposts/2019…
c4ads.org/blogposts/2019…
On December 26, 2019, Turkish President Recep Erdogan announced plans to deploy troops to Libya reportedly at request of the UN-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) as it battles rival General Khalifa Haftar and the Libyan National Army (LNA).
aljazeera.com/news/2019/12/e…
aljazeera.com/news/2019/12/e…
Twitter erupted in multiple unverified reports of Syrian fighters airlifted from Syria into Libya (h/t @FranticGoat). Airspotters elsewhere identified flights between Turkey and Misrata including a Boeing 747-400 operated by Aerotranscargo, a Moldova-based company.
In 2017, Aerotranscargo appeared in the UN Panel of Experts report as one of several Moldova-based air freight providers that had operated suspicious flights into Libya. Some of these flights were also suspected of transporting weapons despite UN restrictions.
The UN PoE found that this Aerotranscargo aircraft had been previously chartered by a Libyan company, Global Aviation Services Group (GASG). In 2015, GASG appeared on a waybill for the alleged transfer of thousands of Caracel F pistols reportedly sent to Libyan forces in Mitiga.
GASG seemingly rebranded to “Global Air” in 2017 and reportedly leased an Airbus C4 2013 (ER-ABE) from Airstork, a Moldovan company co-located with Aerotranscargo which seems to have some directors in common.
Between April 19, 2017 and May 5, 2019 at least 4 of Aerotranscargo’s aircraft – ER-JAI, ER-BBJ, ER-BAJ, and ER-BAM – traveled between Turkey and Mitiga under GASG call signs – GAK3011 and GAK3012 – seemingly supporting GASG’s links with Aerotranscargo as reported by the UN PoE.
Open flight data from @ADSBexchange revealed low altitude transmissions by each of these aircraft indicating potential landings at Mitiga.
As Turkey’s deployment into Libya unfolds, the role of commercial airliners is likely to expand, creating opportunities for sleuthing through publicly available flight data. This is just our first dig into this flight activity… stay tuned for future installments.
