Rendition Circuit: 5-7 November 2005
Possible rendition of High-Value Detainees, Romania to Afghanistan
In the early hours of 6 November 2005, two private Gulfstream IV jets linked to the CIA renditions programme - with registration numbers N1HC and N248AB - met in Amman, Jordan. The first of these had just come from Bucharest, Romania, where the CIA were in the process of emptying its secret prison after exposure by the press several days earlier. It is possible that the aircraft was transferring one or more detainees out of the country, and met with N248AB in a third country to disguise the ultimate destination. After meeting the first aircraft for 30 minutes, likely while detainees were transferred across, N248AB then took off and flew to Afghanistan, thus completing the circuit. This second aircraft was operated by Prime Jet, a charter company also operating two other renditions-linked aircraft (N308AB and N614RD).
Analysis
N1HC left Harrisburg International Airport, Pennsylvania (KMDT) in the late morning of 5 November 2005, flying to Porto, Portugal (LPPR) where it touched down for just over an hour. It then flew to Romania, filing a flight plan to Constanta (LRCK) to land in the evening. However, recordsshow that the subsequent flight was filed out of Bucharest (LRBS), where the secret prison was located, thus suggesting that the plan into LRCK was a dummy flight plan. Regardless, the flight from Romania, possibly with one or more 'High Value Detainees' on board, landed in Amman, Jordan (OJAM) at 00:21 on 6 November. Waiting for N1HC was another aircraft linked to renditions, N248AB, which had landed in Amman 30 minutes earlier (having flown from the US via Malta).
The two aircraft were on the ground together in Amman for 34 minutes, potentially while detainees were transferred from N1HC to N248AB. The latter aircraft took off at 00:55, flying direct to Kabul (OKAB) and landing there at 05:12. N1HC, meanwhile, left Amman at 01:20, returning to the US via Iceland (BIKF). After Kabul, N248AB flew to Athens (LGAV), where it stayed overnight. On 7 November, it then flew to Bergen, Norway (ENBR), then back to the US, finally landing at Monmouth Executive Airport, New Jersey (KBLM) late in the evening of 7 November 2005.
