Britain Finds Drugs on Plane; Crew Arrested
LONDON (Agence France-Presse) — The crew members of a South African Airways plane were arrested Tuesday after about $450,000 worth of cannabis and cocaine were found on a flight from Johannesburg to London, customs officials said.
Border agency officials found 110 pounds of cannabis, worth about $210,000, and 9 pounds of cocaine, worth about $240,000, in three suitcases, said a spokesman for Britain’s revenue and customs agency.
All 15 members of the plane’s flight and cabin crew — 10 women and five men — were arrested after the plane landed at Heathrow Airport at 8 a.m.
Customs agents found the cannabis in the suitcases when the crew members passed through a customs clearance point, said Bob Gaiger, the spokesman.
Additional searches revealed a white powder that tested positive for cocaine.
“Interviews will be taking place and will probably go into tomorrow, and then we will decide whether we are going to charge anyone,” Mr. Gaiger said. The pilot was among the crew members who were detained, he added.
Mr. Gaiger underlined how seriously British customs took such cases, saying that it was committed to playing “a vital role in the fight to prevent illegal drugs from entering the U.K. and in protecting our communities from the violence and corruption that always accompany this hideous trade.”
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