MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

UAE Air Force freighter leaves Bariloche after solving customs issue

The presence of a foreign-flagged C-17 had sparked an uproar throughout Bariloche

A C-17 Globemaster freighter of the United Arab Emirates Air Force Wednesday departed from the Bariloche airport in Argentine Patagonia after being grounded for two days due to Customs inconsistencies with its cargo manifesto.

According to the Río Negro newspaper, the US-built Boeing carried the modules of a satellite station to be installed in one of the estancias owned by the Emirati royal family south of the Manso River bordering the Nahuel Huapi National Park.

The estancias are in the same area as Lago Escondido, the land owned by English tycoon Joseph Lewis, and Baguales, owned by a Qatari company in which Argentine retired tennis player Gastón Gaudio appears as a shareholder.

Logistics coordination in Bariloche was in charge of Federico Bergter, director of the Belgian company Burco, which also has interests in the same area, it was also reported.

After the Customs issues were solved, the unloading of the cargo was performed where the plane had been parked since Monday.

The presence of a foreign-flagged aircraft of a type unusual to local skies had sparked an uproar throughout Bariloche, which was fueled by silence from every authority in the area.

The various modules will allow the construction of a satellite station in one of the estancias owned by Matar Suhail Al Yabhouni Al Dhaheri, the right-hand man of Prince Mohamed bin Zayed, who has purchased what he named Rincón del Diablo, 19,270 hectares some 65 kilometers south of Bariloche, where he has an exclusive hunting reserve. This acquisition was added to the 679 hectares he had owned south of the Foyel River since 2010.

The purchase of Rincón del Diablo was made in 2017, the same year when then-Governor Alberto Weretilneck visited the Arab Emirates as part of former President Mauricio Macri's entourage.