Iran rejects possibility of sabotage in police plane crash

Police Chief Brigadier General Esmayeel Ahmadi Moqaddam said the plane crash incident in southeastern Iran that killed several Iranian police officials a few days ago was not the result of a terrorist or sabotage operation.

“It is not correct to blame sabotage for the crash because there has been no fire or blast and the plane engines have just stopped working,” Ahmadi Moqaddam told reporters in Tehran on Tuesday.

He said police have found the remnants of the plane which showed that there has been no possibility for sabotage. “The plane was flying at 19,000 feet and the utmost range of weapons used by a person (to target a plane) is below 12,000 feet and targeting a plane at such an altitude is only possible by large missiles.”

Ahmadi Moqaddam blamed darkness of the night for the crash, and said perhaps, the plane could have landed safely if it had flown during the daylight.

On Sunday, an informed source described technical failure as the most likely cause of the Saturday evening crash of the light plane.

“The Law Enforcement Police’s spur plane which was flying from Tehran to Sistan and Balouchestan province to study the security issues in there, unfortunately crashed due to technical flaws, darkness of the night and the pilot’s unfamiliarity with the region,” the source told FNA.

“All the crew members of the plane have been martyred in the incident,” the source added.

Initial reports said that the Turbo Commander light aircraft went down in the Sabzpoushan mountainous area in Zahedan, the capital of Sistan and Balouchestan province, in southeastern Iran, on Saturday evening.

The airplane was on its route from the capital, Tehran, to Zahedan when the incident happened. The victims include three senior officers, a police employee and three crew members.

The wreckage of the aircraft has been found in Sabzpoushan.

On Sunday, Commander of the Iranian Border Guards Brigadier General Qassem Rezayee in an interview with FNA had also ruled out any possibility of a terror attack.