300 pounds of cocaine found in Canadian Navajo

[Pratt X 3]

Piper PA-31-310 Navajo, C-GNAV: 300 pounds of cocaine found after plane's unauthorized landing at Ohio University Airport (KUNI)

Two men from Mirabel were charged Thursday in a U.S. federal court after authorities in Ohio discovered more than 90 kilograms of cocaine inside their small airplane when it was forced to make an emergency landing in the United States.

The plane landed at Ohio University Airport, in Albany, Ohio, Wednesday afternoon. According to Canadian aviation records, the plane is based in Lachute and is registered to Sylvain Desjardins, of Mirabel.

Desjardins, 47, and the other man who was on board, David Ayotte, also of Mirabel, were arrested and face charges of possession of more than five kilograms of cocaine with intent to distribute. According to the criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court in southern Ohio on Thursday, the aircraft, a Piper PA-31, was detected by U.S. Customs and Border Protection on Wednesday 18 miles north of an airport in the Bahamas. It had a flight plan to land in Windsor, Ont., but diverted to the airport in Ohio during the flight, and Desjardins was the pilot. Both men will be detained for a bail hearing on Monday.

The cocaine was seized after the plane made the unplanned landing. Found were “132 bundles (each weighing approximately 1 kilogram (each),” according to the criminal complaint.

“Once on the ground, the pilot of the aircraft advised he was travelling through U.S. airspace when a mechanical problem forced him to land unexpectedly,” Lt. Tim Ryan of the Ohio University Police Department wrote in a statement released about the incident. “Since the Ohio University airport is a port of entry, Customs and Border Protection requested the occupants of the aircraft be detained until federal agents could respond.”

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security took over after the plane landed.

More: http://www.kathrynsreport.com/2017/03/d ... urity.html

And it doesn't look like this was the first time they've done this (or maybe a few trial runs):
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/CGNAV/history

[confusedalot]

terrible of me, but my sarcastic just cannot resist.

They'll do time, get pardoned, and go on with their careers at a well known big jet charter operator.

this is the way of the world. however, do a slight indiscretion that hurts no one, you'll be nailed to the wall by the authorities.

[172_Captain]

Hopefully next time these guys will use a more reliable turbine when performing this line of work, and not a piston pounder.

[Cliff Jumper]

That must have been a serious mechanical issue if they decided to land at a large airport with customs on site.

[valleyboy]

What makes you think they were that smart.

[Pratt X 3]

The airport they diverted to isn't a US Customs port of entry. Which probably came into their thought process when the issue popped up. Figured they could land, have a mechanic look at the problem and continue on. Problem for them though was that this plane was probably tailing them the entire way from where they crossed the US ADIZ.



Looks like on a prior flight they diverted into Charleston, West Virginia (KCRW), maybe for fuel. KCRW is a Customs Landing Rights airport which means there is Customs available but only with prior approval. In the middle of the night there more than likely wouldn't be an inspector right at the airport. So they might have just gassed and went without talking to Customs. Or they might have even called, advised they had to stop for fuel and Customs gave them permission to continue on. Since it worked that time, they probably thought it would the next time.

[cdnpilot77]

Maybe they just didn't know that they had an extra 300lbs of Colombian Bam Bam on board....innocent until proven guilty right??

[altiplano]

Stealth black with a faded purple plush interior, GNAV was pretty ballin'...

The coke was probably left behind by accident when Navair closed up... it was all Hookers and Blow and Bag Runs back then...

Memories of a previous life...

[round pounder]

These are future Transat or Nolinor captains. They have taken the term bag . to a new level

[trey kule]

This is the US folks, not Prime Minister [edited] "we love drugs" country.
I would expect at least 10 years each.
And in the US that typically would mean 10 years in prison, unlike the four weeks they would get in Canada to be served on weekends.
Maybe It probably was a better option than ditching in the water or landing in a field someplace.

It would be interesting to know how they planned to get through customs in Windsor.

[Cessna 180]

This is the US folks, not Prime Minister [edited] "we love drugs" country.
I would expect at least 10 years each.
And in the US that typically would mean 10 years in prison, unlike the four weeks they would get in Canada to be served on weekends.
Maybe It probably was a better option than ditching in the water or landing in a field someplace.

It would be interesting to know how they planned to get through customs in Windsor.

Probably by a quick phone call and a number to write down. Except this time I think US CBP was tipped off and was probably following them the entire way.

https://flightaware.com/live/flight/CGNAV

[pelmet]

These are future Transat or Nolinor captains. They have taken the term bag . to a new level

Not sure how Nolinor enters this. Any details?

[benoit.baril]

Not sure how Nolinor enters this. Any details?

Probably a reference to this Convair 580 bust in the 90s
viewtopic.php?t=7801

[Benwa]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casey_E ... y_Airstrip

[tps8903]

Don't kid yourself about how most of the guns and drugs enter this country. Of all the times I've flown my personal aircraft back into Canada I have never once been met by CBSA. It's always a phone call, the same old "has your declaration changed?" followed by a confirmation number. The bad guys know this, and they are importing contraband (drugs, weapons, people "human trafficking") with near immunity. Only time they get caught is when the US government gets involved.

As far as these people becoming the next batch of airline pilots. That's unlikely. They simply use aviation as their means to support their criminal activity. If you spend enough time at the local airport you will eventually come across people that fit this persona.

[confusedalot]

Don't kid yourself about how most of the guns and drugs enter this country. Of all the times I've flown my personal aircraft back into Canada I have never once been met by CBSA. It's always a phone call, the same old "has your declaration changed?" followed by a confirmation number. The bad guys know this, and they are importing contraband (drugs, weapons, people "human trafficking") with near immunity. Only time they get caught is when the US government gets involved.

As far as these people becoming the next batch of airline pilots. That's unlikely. They simply use aviation as there means to support their criminal activity. If you spend enough time at the local airport you will eventually come across people that fit this persona.

You may be on to something. I flew "corporate" for a short time for a rather large and well known outfit with fancy planes that everybody knew about....and....after doing the typical reports, the cbsa would show up 50% of the time by surprise......Big time corporate place that everybody knows about, they check. Small time planes, nobody checks..........What is wrong with this picture?

[Pratt X 3]

[CpnCrunch]

I hope they did a proper weight+balance for that.

[anofly]

if you are an american , coming back from the Caribbean,in a GA plane, you have to fill out all kinds of paperwork to "overfly" the south east of florida, and make your customs stop up somewhere closer to home. In other words the USA frowns on their own GA planes landing anywhere other than southeast florida for customs, when they come in from the Caribbean.

[JasonE]

I would imagine with the previous criminal record the owner/pilot was inadmissible to the USA to begin with.

[Broken Slinky]

if you are an american , coming back from the Caribbean,in a GA plane, you have to fill out all kinds of paperwork to "overfly" the south east of florida, and make your customs stop up somewhere closer to home. In other words the USA frowns on their own GA planes landing anywhere other than southeast florida for customs, when they come in from the Caribbean.

Correct. However this was a fly over flight though. They planned to contact Customs in Windsor. This would fall within the guidelines of the closest port of entry if Canada had such a requirement.

[Heliian]

Is that the aircraft in question? Looks like they were trying to skirt duties on the rolies or just needed the boxes for the coke. The beige bar in the center is a magnetic lock, must have had a secret switch and cover panel.

[GyvAir]

I had to google to figure out what the bee logo was about:

http://www.thepostathens.com/article/20 ... e-movie-ou