Date of publication: 12 Apr 2022 • 2 hours ago • 4 minutes reading • 12 comments The plane where the drugs were found belonged to a subcontractor carrying 1.5 million passengers a year on Air Canada Express flights. Photo by Dirección Nacional de Control de Drogas / Twitter
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A Canadian charter airline says its pilots and flight attendants are being held in dangerous, inhumane conditions in the Dominican Republic after they told police they had 200kg of cocaine hidden inside their plane.
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The plane – a Bombardier regional aircraft that until two years ago flew under the Air Canada Express logo – is being held at Punta Cana airport following the discovery of drugs late last week. Pivot Airlines said its crew found the contraband in a maintenance compartment containing “critical” electrical equipment and reported the finding to both local officials and the RCMP. They prevented a possible air disaster that could have been caused by the extra weight and flammable packaging that was close to the electrical equipment, the company said. Crew members are now being held in separate detention facilities. The men are in a shared cell with drug offenders, the company said in a statement. “They do not speak the language, they have been identified as reporting the smuggling to the authorities and they are afraid for their safety,” Pivot said. “We are deeply concerned about the safety, security and ethical and humane treatment of our crew.”
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“It is unacceptable for a Canadian aircraft crew to remain in custody during a possible 12-month investigation into a suspected crime they have reported.” The plane belonged to a subcontractor that carried 1.5 million passengers a year on Air Canada Express flights, before going bankrupt when Air Canada canceled the deal in late 2019. My phone rang when that happened … it’s a big deal Today, the same CRJ-100 – now painted plain white – is in Punta Cana after the country’s Drug Enforcement Administration said police found more than 200 kilograms of cocaine – worth about $ 25 million – inside the plane. Among the nine Canadians detained for questioning are the two pilots and two flight attendants of the aircraft, three of whom had paid for these Air Canada flights until relatively recently.
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The Pivot is a fledgling, charter outfit that was born after the death of Air Georgian – the subcontractor of Air Canada – where many of the country’s commercial pilots began their careers. The industry is in turmoil over the incident, said a former Georgian pilot who often flew the Dominican-seized jet. “My phone exploded when it happened: everyone who worked there, pilots, flight attendants, is a big deal,” said the former crew member. “I did not really believe it at first,” said the pilot, who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue to Canada’s small airline industry. “I know all four (the crew) personally, I have worked with everyone. “My brain was trying to process: how could this be?”
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The Dominican National Directorate of Drug Control (DNCD) said in a press release that it inspected the plane in response to an information report and eventually found eight black exercise bags filled with 200 bricks of cocaine. The bags were hidden in some of the “control compartments” of the aircraft, according to a press release from the agency. “An extensive investigation has been launched into this case,” he said. “The State Department, assisted by DNCD agents, is working hard to establish clearly who is directly involved in the seizure of the substance.” Dominican officials say police found more than 200 kilograms of cocaine – worth about $ 25 million in road value – inside the plane. Photo by Dirección Nacional de Control de Drogas / Twitter The former Georgian pilot said the “control compartments” where the cocaine was allegedly found looked like enclosures containing equipment such as computers and plane batteries, parts he said could be accessed by ground crew, but not usually pilots or flight attendants.
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Cocaine is not grown anywhere in the Caribbean, so it probably comes from Colombia or possibly Peru or Bolivia, said Jason Eligh, a senior expert at the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime. Because flights arriving from any of these coke-producing nations are under tight control, traffickers often channel them first from other places, he said, and the West Indies are a favorite. “It’s a great place because you have a lot of islands, you have a great ability to hide boats,” Eligh said. “Geographically it is a very good point.” He also said that criminals often carry drugs illegally by plane, including commercial airliners, and the vast majority of them reach their destination without being caught. Baggage handlers and other ground crews – as well as sometimes aviation crews – have been found to be involved in the past, Eligh said.
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And it usually takes some time for police to intercept missions like the one on the Pivot, he said. “This is probably not the first time this route has been used,” Eligh said. “You do not make a judgment the first time someone takes advantage of a particular route.” The plane, registered in the C-FWRR and still bearing the “queue number” 105 used when operating Air Canada Express, has traveled extensively in the Caribbean over the past year, according to FlightRadar24. Nearly 65 of its flights since mid-December have flown to or from the region, including stops in the Dominican Republic, San Martino, Jamaica, Nassau, Puerto Rico and Antigua. The plane made the most visits to the Providenciales in the Turks and Caicos, flying in or out more than 65 times since April 2021. Another frequent destination – 18 landings and take-offs in the last year – was the tiny, jungle-covered Suriname, a a country that moves “tons” of cocaine, according to Colombia-based InSight Crime.
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