Techno DJ jailed for selling fake plane parts for $9 million

A DJ who performs techno music was sentenced to nearly five years in prison for selling over 60,000 counterfeit airplane parts and earning close to $10 million in the process.

In late February, Jose Alejandro Zamora Yrala, a techno artist known as Santa Militia, received a sentence of four years and eight months in prison from a UK court.

A former DJ confessed to selling fake aircraft parts to customers, and these parts were actually used on passenger planes. According to a BBC report, Zamora Yrala sold over 60,000 counterfeit parts through his company, AOG Technics.

Zamora Yrala created false paperwork to misrepresent the source, quality, and condition of aircraft parts, and ran his operation from his garage. He allegedly bought components like engine blades, bolts, and washers, then resold them using the forged documents.

DJ Santa Militia jailed over 60,000 fake plane parts

According to Emma Luxton, who leads operations at the Serious Fraud Office, the ex-DJ put people’s safety at risk globally in a way that’s hard to comprehend.

He allegedly earned more than £7 million (about $9 million) through these transactions. This also led to planes being temporarily grounded in 2023 because they contained parts sold by AOG.

Another prosecutor explained to the BBC that determining the profit is challenging because the origin of the parts and where they were obtained is unknown. Airlines have reportedly suffered losses of approximately £40 million, which is about $53 million.

The story has gained some attention online, particularly among music fans, but it’s not the only recent viral story about airplanes.

So, check this out – back in February, I heard about this five-year-old kid who totally found a mistake in Southwest Airlines’ pilot training manual! He told Next9 News he noticed two of the terrain monitors didn’t line up at all, and Southwest actually gave him a reward for spotting it. Pretty cool, right?

A Lufthansa flight from Munich airport experienced a significant delay when its trip to Copenhagen was canceled, leaving passengers stranded on the plane overnight. Because the airport closed for the night with no staff available, passengers couldn’t disembark until the following morning.

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2026-03-02 13:48