A cargo plane that regularly brings tonnes of weapons to Israel touched down in Shannon Airport on its way to Tel Aviv last month.
The Ditch reported last year that the same airline, Silk Way Airlines, illegally transported munitions to Israel through Irish territory – an indictable criminal offence.
Israeli authorities use the Azerbaijani-registered to transport weapons to and from the country.
In May last year Armenian investigative news platform Hetq reported the plane transports Israeli-made weapons from the Ovda military base in Israel to Azerbaijan.
Its journey last month – as well as its history of transporting weapons – raises questions about the purpose of its stop on the ground in Shannon. On the plane’s journey, before travelling back to Shannon, it stopped off at military base in a country that recently announced a deal to buy Israeli suicide drones.
It first arrived at Shannon Airport on 6 March. It stayed in Shannon for around 14 hours before leaving for Azerbaijan.
The plane, registration number 4K-AZ100, stayed in Azerbaijan for two weeks before departing for Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport on 20 March. From Israel it later headed off for Estonia's Amari military air base.
The Estonian government announced in May 2023 it would buy loitering munitions – also known as suicide drones – from Israel Weapon Industries to replace the weaponry it sent to Ukraine after the Russian invasion in February 2022.
It later travelled back to Israel. On 23 March the plane was back in Shannon Airport. Thirteen hours later it was back in the air, once again on its way to the Azerbaijani capital.
The Department of Transport has been contacted for comment.
