US Federal Agents in Cyprus to Inspect a Light Aircraft

U.S. federal agents are in Cyprus to inspect a light aircraft, the Cypriot police announced today, in the context of the continuing international interest in a plane that UN experts believe played a role in the war in Libya.

The aircraft, which the United Nations believes was modified to carry weapons, has been in an aircraft hangar at Paphos Airport since 2019.

In response to Reuters questions about the aircraft by mail, the Cypriot Ministry of Transport provided identification codes that match one of the three aircraft mentioned in the March 2021 UN report by independent monitors to control it. sanctions in the Libyan war.

This report detailed allegations of a proposed private military operation in 2019 by Blackwater founder Eric Prince in support of the then-strong Eastern man. Libya, Caliph Haftar.

Prince has denied any allegations that he was involved in any operation in Libya.

UN arms inspectors say the proposal, codenamed Project Opus, did not go ahead in June 2019, after Haftar was not impressed by the helicopters given to him for the operation.

In Cyprus, a police spokesman said US federal agents, in co-operation with the United Nations, had inspected the aircraft yesterday.

Cyprus had initially told the UN that it had no record of the aircraft landing in the country in July 2019, according to its report. UN in March 2021. Two officials of the Cypriot Ministry of Transport stated that this was due to incorrect identification codes given by the United Nations.

The presence of the aircraft in Cyprus was later clarified in communication with the United Nations, said one of the officials.

«It is safely guarded in a warehouse at Paphos airport “, said an official of the Ministry of Transport. “He has not left the island since he landed in 2019,” the official added.