Man jailed after selling £7m of fake plane parts

A man has been jailed after selling almost £7m worth of counterfeit plane parts that grounded hundreds of international flights.

Jose Alejandro Zamora Yrala, from Virginia Water in Surrey, previously admitted defrauding customers between 2019 and 2023 while director of UK company AOG Technics.

The fake parts were fitted into Boeing and Airbus passenger aircraft and used by airlines across the world.

Zamora Yrala was sentenced to four years and eight months in prison at Southwark Crown Court earlier.

Emma Luxton, director of operations at the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) said the 38-year-old "risked public safety... in a way that defies belief".

She said she was "proud we have used our specialist skills and expertise to bring him to justice and this criminal operation to the ground as swiftly as possible".

Planes were grounded in 2023 after UK, US and EU aviation agencies issued safety alerts to airlines that may have purchased or installed AOG's parts.

Zamora Yrala had bought engine blades, bolts and washers before forging documents and false memos on his home computer to sell them on.

Many of the parts were used in the leading engine in commercial aircraft, the CFM56, which powers the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320.

Prosecutor Faras Baloch told the court Zamora Yrala had "defrauded customers" by falsifying documentation regarding the origin, condition and status of the parts.

His offending was discovered in 2023 after a bolt he had supplied to a Portuguese airline could not fit on an engine.

This led to an examination of the forged documents, and the eventual grounding of planes after safety notices were issued on 4 August, 2023, the court heard.

Airlines lost a total of £39.3 million, the court heard earlier. Among those affected were Ryanair, American Airlines, Ethiopian Airlines and TAP Air Portugal.

American Airlines did not buy directly from AOG, but still found that 28 of its engines were affected.

The airline - the world's largest - lost £21m from the fallout.

The only people on the company's payroll were Zamora Yrala's then wife, brother and the family's nanny, the court heard.

Zamora Yrala also invented fake employees, with customers receiving emails and documents signed by a range of fabricated sales managers and quality managers, according to the SFO.

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