Smoking Spoories
 

Rumour says that fifteen SAA cabin crew were arrested at LHR this monring after 50kgs (worth £150,000) of cannabis was found on board the SAA flight from JHB to LHR. It is rimoured that the drugs were found in crew baggage.
This may be found on BBC website-just so you know I don't make it up.

SAA Cabin crew held - drugs smuggling
 

BBC news says:


Fifteen cabin crew staff have been arrested after 50kg (110lbs) of cannabis was found on a flight from Johannesburg to Heathrow Airport.
The haul, worth about £150,000, was seized from a South African Airways plane, customs officials said. Officers from the UK Border Agency found the drugs in baggage at the London airport.

15"cabin"crew.? That must include the cockpit crew aswell ? ( 3 cockpit and 12 cabin crew ) UH???What a joke !! I dont think so,did"nt they got rid of that chap years ago !! "Why drink and drive when you can smoke and fly" ?

The BBBC says now that 15 flight and cabin crew have been arrested after cannabius was found in three bags.
Those being held in custody are being interviewed.
Here is the number to call for drugs smuggling tip offs.....24-hour customs hotline on 0800 59 5000.
Is it not wonderful to see SAA flight and cabin crew working together. Perhaps this is the closest they may get to the profit sharing?

Sharing what?? three bags containing cannabis among 15 crew?? There was also cocaine mentioned in this news article.

" Fifteen crew members of a South African Airways flight that landed in London were arrested on Tuesday after a large shipment of cannabis and cocaine was found in their luggage, customs officials said.

Bob Gaiger of HM Revenue and Customs said the flight attendants and pilots on a flight from Johannesburg to London were taken into custody at Heathrow Airport as they passed through customs.

He said customs officials found 50 kilograms of cannabis in three of their bags.

One of the bags also contained about four kilograms of cocaine, worth about £150,000 ($323,000).

Gaiger said it was not immediately clear who the bags belonged to.

South African Airways was not immediately available to comment on the arrests.

AP

Not able to identify whose bags they were??? What rubbish, each bag has a bronze plate rivetted to it with the owners name and employee number on it.

And how did it get to the aeroplane with that stuff in them? Did security at Ops not see it???

Why can some people not just do their jobs, as they are employed to do, without trying to take advantage?

What a pity! This is sure to have a negative effect on SAA's public
opinion. Whoever is guilty, must be brought to book.
Would of thought the last incident a few years ago,
would of taught the odd sneaky crew member a lesson:zzz:

Skyvan

I think we will find it is not that simple.
This not a few kgs by a crewmember for some pocket money. 50 kgs in three bags?? Thats a large mass that would easily show up on the scanners at ORT and Heathrow. The drug dogs at Heathrow would pick it up a mile off.

This required a high level of organisation at both ends. The bags would be either anonomosly labelled or labelled with some elses name.
Lots more to come - but will we hear??

@ Skyvan
SAA recently issued crew with new baggage and did not have tags to issue at the time so a number of crew members currently don't have tags.

Pass the Butt Lube
 

Great, just what we needed....more cavity searches and 'anal' security proceedures...thanks guys.

I hope the captain is allowed to dispense some of his own justice first.....

If it was an SA jail.....butt lube WOULD be the order of the day.....:yuk:

Bags & Tags
 

Al bags, cargo and mail MUST be tagged.

Now they know why they are one of the few airlines profiled in Asia.

So how does it work? Is there a security check at OPS? And then in the terminal? Or just ops, and then onto a bus to the aircraft?

Customs can fingerprint the crew and soon find out who owns what. With everyone denying ownership it may have been easier to arrest the whole crew and sort it out later, may have only been one or two of them involved.

I think we can assume customs have dealt with this sort of situation before.:rolleyes:

Crew and bags screened at ops before bus to aircraft.

Very embarrasing indeed.

Just heard on eNews that crew has been released - apparently no charges filed..

Well done and thanks for dragging the rest of us down with you as "honest" South Africans. So much for Proudly South African.

I think that the fact that the crew have been released without charges says a huge amount.

Their bags were probably tampered with post check-in at Ops, either on the way to the plane, or on the plane before departure itself.

I just feel sorry for all the longhaul crews, in future when they go through LHR there will almost certainly be visits to the Customs shed until the stain of this event dies down.

Sorry for doubting you guys, good luck for the future.

Tampering of bags
 

Skyvan and others suggest that bags were tempered with on the way to the aircraft.
What a totally absurd suggestion. What would the purpose be?? To frame them??
Certainly not to smuggle drugs because how were the smugglers think they were going to reach their intended target by placing it someone elses baggage. Besides 50kg of hash and coke apparently required the use of 3 extra bags. All crew bags are collected by the crew at the aircraft, by the crew - then are bussed to customs. None of the crew or their baggage goes through the terminal buildings. This was a deliberate act of smuggling by the crew, who have complicted the task of British Custome by denying ownership of the bags concerned

Hummer, from two post before we new what was going on to quiet? You must be so disappointed that no one was charged!

Flew to CT with SAA a couple of years ago and they were so appalling that I vowed never again:=...However in the recent past I thought I might give them another chance for my next trip but after this, no way....
Back to BA..........