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..........

eNews channel as well as Highveld said they were released without charges. No mention of bail.. maybe someone in the media has their wires crossed ... anyway - they're out and can do the flight back.... i hope!

SAA crew freed on bail after London drug haul (2nd Roundup)


London - The entire crew of a South African Airways (SAA) airliner was freed on bail by British investigators Wednesday following the discovery of large amounts of drugs in baggage, customs authorities at London's Heathrow airport said Wednesday.

The 10 women and five men, including the plane's captain and co-pilot, were questioned over the seizure of cannabis and cocaine estimated at a street value of 310,000 pounds (427,000 dollars) aboard the plane on its arrival from Johannesburg Tuesday.

According to customs officials 50 kilograms of cannabis and four kilograms of cocaine were found in three pieces of luggage after the plane touched down at London's Heathrow airport early Tuesday.

SAA, which is owned by the South African government, said Wednesday it was cooperating fully with the British authorities and had launched a separate investigation.

'The airline has also launched an investigation into this matter involving SAA Aviation Security and the SAPS (South African Police Service) Crime Intelligence Unit,' a statement from the airline said.

A spokeswoman later confirmed the 15 staff, all based in South Africa, had not been suspended but had been taken off flying duties and would be kept at what she described as a 'secure location' in Britain.

She added that the company was taking the discovery of the drugs 'extremely seriously' and had provided the crew with legal representation.

In London, Revenue and Customs spokesman Bob Gaiger said all 15 crew members were released on unconditional bail in the early hours of Wednesday.

They were instructed to report to the authorities again on March 23, pending further investigations. No charges have so far been made.

'It's going to be a pretty intensive investigation trying to find out what went on and how the drugs came to be where we found them. Obviously we're still trying to establish ownership,' said Gaiger.

.

WRONG

Sound like a African Politician's defence.

@Betalight......the comment about being released without charges relates to the poster above who claimed they had been released without charges. Since that is not the case, the comment is therefore null and void.

As to the politicians type response, do you feel that the scenario is totally impossible?

I feel for the innocents here, now stuck in the UK, maybe until March, when the case comes to court. Hopefully the police will be able to narrow down the search fairly quickly and let the not guilty ones come home.

As for the people who are involved in the movement, manufacure and sale of these drugs....may they rot in hell for the torment they cause!!!

Time will tell.....
 

......another bitter and twisted guy that types before he thinks.

The fact that the crew were released says it all: no evidence to charge one or all.

Many years ago, a SAA hostie was caught with dagga in her bag. She was charged immediately and served a jail sentence.

I suspect the bags were loaded at OT into the crew container by an insider and was to be intercepted at Heathrow by someone else. Something happened at Heathrow and the "job went wrong".

Time will tell.....I hope all the "SAA critics" will then show the same "courage" and admit they were (once again) overreacting :confused:

Fully agree.

Unfortunattely the S.A.A. crew ( last time it was a pilot remember? ) have created a reputation for them self's through various acts ranging from smuggling, theft on board, prostitution on lay overs, swapping duty free products with fakes, fake qualifications, etc.

In 2005 an Aussie lady, Schapelle Corby, tried the "my bag was tampered" plea in Bali when caught with 4kg of marijuana. During this case it was proved how difficult t would be for the contra band to get to it's receiver if not under control all the way. 54 kilo's is just to valuable to fly "unaccompanied."

Sorry flynight, but their track record is not in their favor.

I cannot understand why it is always "Someone else" that planted the drugs! Why could it not be some members of the crew that thought they would be able to walk through customs with out being checked like a hundred times before.

As a matter of interest do the SAA crew go straight from the airplane to the hotel by bus, or do they go through the terminal?

SAA don't get checked by ACSA, but by their own company?! Whilst us poor mortals chuck our bags through the 'time wasting' machine every $%^$ day?! Then they go and.......(takes deep breath, counts to ten, assumes lotus postion)....well, I'm sure it'll all work out for our esteemed flag carrier. :ok:

Skyvan, I hope you know you just told God to "go rot in hell"

He made Marijuana.:}

Frogman have to agree with you. No one in their right mind is going to "tamper" with suitcases to the tune of R2-million in dagga alone and as much in cocaine. That's a lot of money. And just how do you reclaim the drugs on the other side? And when do you put the stuff into the cases? The drugs were packed before the bags entered ops. This was an organised operation, no question.
And NEWSFLASH: on the Times website a security guard at the airport has "confessed" to involvement.

When in London does SAA go straight on the bus and to the hotel, or do they clear customs in the airport?

Shrike200, get the facts first....
 

:=

SAA crew gets security screened at Flight Operations by the same company that does the screening at the airport, they also use the same equipment. This enables the crew to proceed to the aircraft without having to stand in a que to "chuck their bags through the 'time wasting (??!!) machine."

Can you imagine what people like Shrike200 will have to say if the flight was delayed because the crew arrived late at the aircraft after having to wait in the que at OT airprot to have their bags scanned?????:ugh:

smoking spoories
 

Well it just made the main news on CNN here in the USA....so well done to those involved. As an ex SAA employee I am saddened that the company will once again be dragged through the dirt. Find the guilty ones and make an example of them for once and for all. The unions should leave this one alone and let the company and the law do what they should do.:sad:

If you are released on bail, then you have been charged. If you have not been charged, then you get released, isn't it?

I wonder if they will get S&T every day until the end of March!?:p

JG1

What appears to have happened is that they have been released on a form of conditional bail under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act, known as 47(3) bail. The reason for this is to do with the time constraints placed on the investigators. In complex cases(excuse the pun) such as this its common to bail to a return date usually about 8 weeks away, as in this case.

The investigators`time clock` starts to tick again on their return so there is no point in detaining someone unduly to start with as you run out of detention time further down the line.

By March a clearer picture should have emerged. indeed it may be sorted much sooner. Lets hope

Point of fact taken (ie ACSA still screens your bags), but don't get in a knot - you should have realised that EVERYONE else manages to get to their aircraft on time, despite not having their own little setup. AND you should have known that there is a special setup for crew alone at ORT, so SAA's private route is not even necessary - maybe you can mention that to the heav's, and save SAA some money.

The problem with having your own "private" entrance is that the small group of security people serving this entrance, and their managers, get to know the crew.

The crew can also get to know the security people, and start a mutual beneficial arrangement.

The current situation illustrates this perfectly.

Procedure is that the crew check baggage in at SAA Ops. From there it goes directly to the aircraft. Upon arrival in London, The crew collect the baggage from the aircraft, take it to the bus and then depart via bus to the hotel. THE BUS MY OR MY NOT BE SELECTED FOR SEARCHING BY THE CUSTOMS OFFICIAL. this is how it is done for most of the foreign aircrew arriving in London. It is therefore almost 100% sure that somebody or more than one had to collect the "tampered bags" from the person Ls who did it and courier it knowingly to London...Very similar to the incident years ago in Cape Town. (Cape Town to London) The perpatrator was never brought to book although he was suspended with pay he was eventually dismissed (after more than 1,5 years)without appearing in court. Makes you think.

2 in court over SAA drug bust
23/01/2009 14:19 - (SA)


Johannesburg - The case against a security guard and an SAA cabin crew member arrested for alleged drug smuggling was postponed for a week by the Kempton Park Regional Court on Friday.

Security officer Pulane Hlahane, 43, and SAA employee Mmatshuma Matlhara, 35, appeared briefly on fraud and corruption charges before magistrate Prince Manyathi.

State prosecutor Kaizer Mpepele told the court that Hlahane allegedly provided Matlhara with extra security tags so that she could travel with extra luggage containing illegal substances.

"It is alleged there were payments exchanged between the accused, but more details will be established during the investigation," Mpepele said.

More arrests expected

He told the court that the police were expecting to arrest more people in connection with the case.

The case was postponed to January 30 for a formal bail application.

The case follows the detention of three SAA pilots and 12 cabin crew members by British authorities for alleged drug possession at the London Heathrow Airport early this week.

They were later released.

Twelve of the 15 SAA employees arrested, arrived back in South Africa on Thursday and three were still expected back.

- SAPA