Azzaman, November 17, 2014
The Islamic State has been using the airports under its control for the transport of weapons to its militants in both Iraq and Syria, according to Hakim al-Zamili, the head of the Defense Commission at the Iraqi parliament.
Zamili said one such plane landed in Baghdad carrying 40 tons of weapons and destined to Islamic State militants.
“The plane was seized along with the weapons,” he said, adding that the government was aware of numerous landings by cargo planes at airports in the northern city of Mosul and other locations.
Zamili said the plane whose cargo was seized at Baghdad International Airport was the no “the first to be loaded with weapons to Daesh” the local name for the Islamic State.
He said the fighting against the Islamic State in both Iraq and Syria has sparked a booming black market in weapons smuggling.
The contraband trade is so lucrative and widespread that cargo planes are being deployed to transport weapons, he added.
Planes landing at airports controlled by the Islamic State need no papers or permission, Zamili said.
A senior military commander has called on the U.S. air force to destroy airports currently under Islamic State control to prevent planes carrying weapons from landing.
The plane that landed at Baghdad International Airport was carrying forged documents in which the cargo was reported to be ‘cigarettes.’
It is not clear how many planes have used the Baghdad airport as a destination to unload their weapons on their way to the Islamic State.
But reports say that such planes might have landed and emptied their cargo at other airports under either Kurdish or central government control.
Zamili said intelligence reports point to brisk trade in smuggling of arms in Iraq. The Islamic State, he added, “is using the hard cash it earns from oil exports on the purchase of weapons.”
Uprooted Palestinian 
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