The Associated Press reports:
Five people including the founder of the Blackwater security firm went on trial in Austria on Thursday, accused of exporting two crop-spraying aircraft that were allegedly refitted for military purposes without required permits. Prosecutors say that two Ayres Thrush agricultural aircraft were equipped with armor, extra tanks and a special camera that could be used for marking and illuminating targets.
They say one was sent to Malta in 2014 with Kenya as its declared destination and landed in troubled South Sudan, while the other was sent to Bulgaria in 2015. The defendants are accused of violating Austria’s law on war material by exporting such equipment without permission. They are Blackwater founder Erik Prince, two managers at Airborne Technologies and a trained pilot who allegedly was an adviser.
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Betsy DeVos’s brother has some trouble Blackwater founder and 4 others on trial in Austria over export of modified crop-spraying planes https://t.co/2ZPk0J2FEF
— Peter Greene (@palan57) November 16, 2023
BOOM. ERIK PRINCE ARRAIGNED FOR ARMS TRAFFICKING; PLEADS NOT GUILTY; TRIAL CONTINUES DEC. 14
https://t.co/q7HpyDaX0v
— Eric Garland (@ericgarland) November 16, 2023
Erik Prince und die Landwirtschaftflugzeuge aus Wiener Neustadt – da gibt es grad in Österreich einen Prozess wegen „Kriegsgerät“ https://t.co/y29G0iKdUL
— SPARTANAT (@spartan_at) November 16, 2023