Mexican PGR intercepts drug-ladden DC-9

[Panama Jack]

Mexican authorities in the state of Cameche intercepted and captured a DC-9 arriving from Venezuela with 5500 kilograms of cocaine aboard. The only occupants of the aircraft, which is owned by a US company, were the pilot and co-pilot. PGR personnel captured the co-pilot of the DC-9 as well as a pilot and co-pilot of a Falcon jet, that arrived shortly after the DC-9 landed and is believed to be the receiver of the cocaine for onward transfer. The pilot of the DC-9 managed to escape, however authorities claim they have sufficient information to capture him.

Interceptan un avión con 5.500 kilos cocaína procedente de Venezuela

México, 11 abr (EFE).- Un avión procedente de Caracas con cinco toneladas y media de cocaína fue interceptado por las autoridades mexicanas en el estado de Campeche, donde fueron detenidas tres personas, entre ellos un venezolano y dos mexicanos, informaron hoy fuentes oficiales.

La operación antidroga, en la que participó personal de la Procuraduría General de la República (PGR, Fiscalía) y de la Secretaría de Defensa Nacional (Sedena), se llevó a cabo el lunes en el aeropuerto de Ciudad del Carmen (Campeche), en el golfo de México.

La aeronave, un DC-9 procedente del aeropuerto internacional de Maiquetía-Caracas, fue interceptada con el alijo de droga en su interior, agregaron en rueda de prensa Carlos Gaytán, jefe de operación del Estado Mayor de la Sedena, y el vicefiscal José Luis Santiago Vasconcelos.

La droga iba en la bodega del avión, que pertenece a la aerolínea estadounidense Fligh, según la PGR, dedicada a vuelos chárter para turistas.

La incautación se logró debido a que las autoridades detectaron varias irregularidades, como que la aeronave no llevara pasajeros cuando se había informado de que era un vuelo especial con turistas.

El avión sólo llevaba a bordo al piloto, cuyo nombre no fue revelado y que se dio a la fuga, y al copiloto, el venezolano Miguel Vice Vázquez Guerra, que fue detenido.

Minutos después de que aterrizara el DC-9 llegó al mismo aeropuerto otra aeronave Falcon particular de matricula mexicana, donde viajaban los mexicanos Fernando Poot Pére y Marco Antonio Pérez, quienes fueron detenidos porque, según los funcionarios, iban a pasar la droga del avión grande a la nave pequeña.

Los dos mexicanos pretendían llevar el cargamento al aeropuerto de Toluca, a unos 60 kilómetros de Ciudad de México.

Los funcionarios aseguraron que han solicitado la colaboración de autoridades de EEUU, ya que el avión es de una empresa estadounidense, y de las venezolanas para lograr la captura de los responsables de este tráfico.

Sobre el piloto que se dio a la fuga, dijeron que éste se percató del operativo cuando realizaba los trámites para continuar su ruta de vuelo. Confiaron en que podrán detenerlo ya que tiene información del copiloto venezolano.

[B Sousa]

PJ
If you hear anything more like an N Number or names, let us know...........

[NG_Kaptain]

Did a search and came up with this news report... Aircraft was DC9 N900SA


WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) said it was investigating the recent seizure of a jet airliner in Mexico that reportedly arrived from Venezuela loaded with five tons of cocaine.

"We're going to work with our Mexican counterparts to identify where it was headed for and where it was coming from," said DEA spokesman Steve Robertson.

Robertson said a large drug trafficking organization was probably responsible because it would have the assets to operate an airliner.

"They'll try different means of smuggling -- they'll use ships, they'll use planes, and this is a new trend for this particular organization," he said, giving no details about which cartel he was talking about.

The DC-9 airplane, owned by a US company named Fly, was captured on April 10 in the Mexican town of Ciudad del Carmen, in the eastern state of Campeche. The plane flew in from Venezuela, and a Venezuelan pilot was arrested on the spot.

The DEA has strong relations with Colombian and Mexican authorities, "and right now we're doing the basic detective work that goes into something like this," said Robertson.

US, Venezuelan, Mexican and Colombian police are investigating traffickers that ship drugs on commercial flights to the United States from the two South American nations after a stop over in Mexico, the Mexican daily El Universal reported, citing a DEA document.

President Hugo Chavez abruptly ended US-Venezuelan drug cooperation in mid-2005 after Venezuelan investigators said US DEA agents in Venezuela had violated Venezuelan drug laws.

That didn't seem to bother Robertson. "Career law enforcement officers, whether they be US or foreign, are highly committed to stopping crime, and drugs are a very serious problem that affects all countries," he said.


And

Mexico: Authorities Seize Aircraft with 5½ Ton Cocaine Shipment from Venezuela
By W. K.
12.04.06 | The seizure last Monday, at Ciudad del Carmen, Mexico, of a jetliner, carrying no passengers, but loaded with over five tons of cocaine packed in 128 identical black suitcases, has serious implications concerning the growth of narcotraffic in Venezuela and the country’s sad evolution into a narco-state. The fact that a cocaine shipment of this size was successfully trans-shipped at Venezuela’s main international airport casts serious doubts as to whether the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration should proceed with its stated intention of raising Venezuela to Category 1 from its current Category 2.

The blue-tailed white aircraft with blue trim and golden borders along the window line, registered in the U.S. as N900SA, reportedly departed from Caracas’ Simón Bolívar International Airport (Maiquetía), only to turn around after approximately “1 ½ hours of flight.” After landing and apparently refueling, it resumed its flight toward Mexico, specifically to Toluca, near Mexico City. Later that evening it made an alleged “emergency” landing at Ciudad del Carmen, Campeche, Mexico. The crew claimed they were having hydraulic trouble with the landing gear and parked the plane well away from the terminal area, convincing ground crews to keep people away from the aircraft because of the hazards presented by “leaking oil” and the possibility one of the tires might “explode.” The obliging ground crews tried to keep authorities away from the aircraft to no avail, and the military police, using trained dogs, detected the presence of drugs onboard. They arrested the co-pilot, Miguel Vicente Vázquez Guerra, identified as Venezuelan by some reports and Colombian by others. However, the pilot, who had left the aircraft to do an errand concerning flight plans, managed to evade authorities, reportedly by climbing over the airport perimeter fence.

Also present at the Ciudad del Carmen airport was an executive jet, of Mexican registry, apparently making a rendezvous. The crew members, Fernando Poot Pérez and Marco Antonio Pérez de García, both of Mexican nationality, and also in possession of drugs, were arrested.

The Mexican authorities were reportedly tipped off by U.S. authorities, and by Venezuelan authorities, who had no choice but to cooperate in this instance.

There are conflicting reports as to who owns the DC-9. Mexican authorities have identified its owner variously as “Aero Flight” and “Fly,” supposedly “U.S. companies.” The trouble is “Aero Flight” was a German charter airline that went out of business in November 2005. In fact, there are at least half a dozen airlines with the word “Flight” in their name and almost 20 with the word “Fly.” The FAA website identifies the current owner of N900SA as being “Royal Sons, Inc.” of Clearwater, Florida. Elsewhere the owner is listed as HW Aviation of Dunedin, Florida. HW Aviation, reportedly went into bankruptcy in February 2004.

NG_Kaptain

[FlyingCroc]

And it all returns to venice Florida, the home of terrorpilot Mohammed Atta and Huffman Flight school. Wonder where the captain went :}

WORLD EXCLUSIVE
APRIL 17 2006--Venice,FL.
by Daniel Hopsicker




One of the two owners of the DC9 (tail number N900SA) busted at an airport in Ciudad del Carmen in the state of Campeche, Mexico last week freighted 5.5 tons of cocaine had been appointed in 2003 to the Business Advisory Council of the National Republican Congressional Committee by then-Congressional Majority Leader Tom Delay, The MadCowMorningNews can exclusively report.

The plane's registered owner, “Royal Sons LLC,” a Florida air charter company, was at one time housed in a hanger at the Venice Fl. Airport owned by infamous flight school Huffman Aviation.

Also of major significance is the fact that photos of the DC9, seized last Monday in Ciudad del Carmen, reveal that the plane is painted with the distinctive blue and white color color scheme of official U.S. Government planes.

Moreover, to reinforce the effect, or subterfuge, the plane carries an official-looking Seal painted on its side, which reads: SKY WAY AIRCRAFT, PROTECTION OF AMERICA'S SKIES, around an image of a federal eagle clutching the familiar olive branch in its talons. Many have been fooled into concluding that the plane belongs to the U.S. Transportation Security Administration.

This has obvious and highly serious national security implications, which go well beyond the obvious glee involved in playing political "gotcha" with people caught face-down with their noses buried, Tony Montana-style, in over five tons of cocaine.

Who, exactly, are the "Royal Sons?"

The DC9 was purchased several years ago in a partnership between "Royal Sons Motor Yacht Sales, Inc. DBA Royal Sons" and a company owned by Brent Kovar called Skyway Communications Holding Corp, which jointly signed a loan with United Bank and Trust Company in St. Petersburg, FL. for $1.5 million.

Skyway Communication's principal Kovar must have been looking well forward to justify the purchase; the company was then in the middle of losing $40 million in less than three years, between 2002 and its last annual report before bankruptcy in January 2005.

Not that Tom DeLay seemed to mind. He and buddy Brent Kovar's press release deserves special mention.

"Congressman Tom Delay, Majority Leader, has appointed Brent C Kovar to serve as the Honorary Chairman, Business Advisory Council,” read the headline of an August 7, 2003 release from PrimeZone Media newswire and press release service.

The Business Advisory Council, explained the release, was part of the National Republican Congressional Committee, “dedicated to making sure that small business has a voice in Washington.”

Kovar was appointed “in recognition of his valuable contributions and dedication to the Republican Party,” and was "expected to play a crucial role in the party's efforts to involve top businesspeople in the process of government reform both at the state and federal levels."

While the release left the specific nature of Kovar's "crucial role in the GOP' efforts" a bit vague, a look at the other owner of the DC9, dubbed "Cocaine One," offers clues which help fill in the blanks.

"Protection of America's Skies?"

But the "Royal Sons" connection may prove even more enlightening...

While Huffman Aviation's familiar blue-awning flight school was at 400 E Airport, its hangar (see picture below) was several hundred feet down the runway, at 224 E Airport Ave. Royal Sons used this same address, apparently during the same time frame that the flight school was serving as the home-away-from-home of terrorist ringleader Mohamed Atta.

A close look at Royal Sons reveals evidence indicating that the firm is part of a cluster of related air charter firms being used as dummy front companies to provide “cover” for CIA flights.

The companies involved include Royal Sons, Express One International, Genesis Aviation and United Flite Inc.
All four companies appear to be engaged in an inter-locking and time-honored Agency scheme going back 50 years: using frequent cosmetic transfers of aircraft title to make positively identifying the ownership of any one plane at any given time as difficult as finding the pea under the shell in a game of three-card Monte.

While none of the firms has been identified as a CIA aviation contractor, they have also not previously been the focus of the sort of unwelcome attention that getting caught with five tons of cocaine provides.

Tell us again...What happened to the pilot?

When the story first broke, observers immediately noted that it was embarrassingly thin in certain crucial details. For example, initial reports stated that the Mexican Army had been waiting for the plane when it landed.

Yet when Mexican Gen. Carlos Gaytan held a news conference, he told reporters that his soldiers had unfortunately been unable to apprehend the plane’s pilot.

Somehow, Houdini-like, the slippery fellow had gotten away.

Amazingly, the “disappeared" DC9 pilot who slithered through a crack in the line of Mexican troops ringing the airport had also had the presence of mind to take his name with him when he fled. Almost ten days later, the pilot remains unidentified.

To compensate, General Gaytan quickly pointed out that his men had, at least, managed to arrest the plane's co-pilot. But suspicion had already been aroused. It seemed almost exactly like what had happened when terror flight school owner Wally Hilliard's Lear jet got busted with 43 pounds of heroin aboard. Somehow, his pilot got off scot-free, too.

"Being connected means never having to say you're sorry."

Could the reason involve some official sanction enjoyed by the drug trafficking operation involved? This explanation would seem to be ruled out, wouldn't it, if the traffickers get caught?

Maybe not...There's another major "anomaly" in the story, which points towards a simpler explanation, which credits the sharpness and dedication to their jobs of low-level agents or grunts, foot soldiers, literally, in the drug war. The record is replete with examples of how these people regularly stumble onto situations they were never meant to see...like an illicit but 'protected' operation.

The result is that, sometimes, cases get made, and people get arrested, by mistake...

While initial news accounts indicated the bust was the result of a tip to Mexican authorities from U.S. officials, later reports from reporters on the scene tell a far different tale, one indicating that the chain of events was triggered, not by high-level contacts between two vigilant drug-fighting governments, but by soldiers patrolling the airport.

Only then did local army officials deploy troops to the airport.

Here's what the soldiers saw: two Mexican pilots arriving in a small Falcon business jet and spending several days conspicuously slouching around the airport. While they probably didn't say what for, they didn't have to... Because they did offer to pay for the DC-9 to make an emergency landing, at a time when the airport was officially closed.

Du-uh. John Gotti would had called the two pilots "******* dunskies." Nobody knows what their bosses are calling them now, but the men would be well-advised to consider how it was that they got...literally...caught holding... while the gringo pilot got away.

Carrying water for somebody, sure. But who?

Both of the detained Mexican pilots, published reports at the end of last week revealed, were employees of the Mexican government's Federal Water Commission. But they may not be the only pilots drawing government paychecks who participated in the massive drug move.

The pilot of the DC9 may also be cashing checks which--while not stamped with Uncle Sam's name on the front--are still ultimately being drawn from U.S. government funds.

Another anomaly reinforced this suspicion. While the Venice Airport is a tiny facility with barely a dozen businesses strewn along the runway, no one we spoke to at Royal Son's former Venice Airport address could recall the company having been there. Nor did the names of the firms two principals, Frederic Geffon and Ron Gregory, ring any bells.

“Royal Sons” would not be the first phantom firm discovered hiding inside Huffman Aviation. Britannia Aviation, once “housed” inside the flight school, was later revealed to be all-but non-existent during a major brouhaha in Jerry Falwell’s Lynchburg Virginia after being awarded, for no apparent reason aviation observers were able to fathom, a fat government aviation contract for which a local Lynchburg firm was clearly much better qualified.

“Don’t touch my bags if you please, Mr. Custom's Man"

Of course, as the MadCowMorningNews has been pointing out to anyone who'll listen, Huffman Aviation's owner Wally Hilliard had his own Lear jet busted by DEA agents, during the same month Mohamed Atta arrived at his flight school, unhappy to discover 43 pounds of heroin aboard.

The Orlando Sentinel called it “the biggest heroin bust in Central Florida history.”

Two surreal details of the 5-ton cocaine bust deserve mention...

Being connected to two such world-class drug busts in a matter of only a few years does not by itself indicate that the sleepy retirement community of blue-haired widows is about to replace Palermo or Caracas as the place to see and be seen in the international narcotics trade, it seems fair to say the tiny rural Venice Airport is clearly the “Little Engine That Could.”

But the most surreal detail this side of the Salvador Dali museum is that the cocaine was packed into 128 identical black suitcases...

Clearly every baggage handler's worst nightmare.

But the surreal part is this: stenciled on the side of each of the 128 pieces of identical black luggage is the word “Private."

We're at a loss to understand what this means. A libertarian battle cry? Or an admonition to nosy Customs agents:

“Gentlemen do not search each other's luggage."

Stay tuned.

[NG_Kaptain]

Even more intersting!!!! The conspiracy theorist are gonna love this.

http://barcelona.indymedia.org/newswire/display/253046/index.php

"Official-looking TSA plane busted for hauling cocaine in Mexico.

In 2004 a Sky Way Aircraft Beechcraft BE-200, registration N391SA, flying under the false registration of N168D, was confiscated by the Venezuelan government after flying from Caracas Charallave airport to Santiago Marino airport on Margarita island. FAA records indicate that Sky Way's office of record was 341 8th Ave. SE # 3C, St. Petersburg, Florida. The FAA registration database also states, "N391SA has multiple records" in addition to its status as being "exported" to Venezuela and, thus, "de-registered" with the FAA. After the revelations about CIA rendition flights and proprietary companies, it was discovered that N168D was the tail number for a Casa CN-235-300 registered to Devon Holding and Leasing of Lexington, North Carolina.

Sky Way Beechcraft that was held by Venezuela after it used a false registration number N168D, the same tail number used by one of the CIA's rendition planes.

The DC-9 seized by Mexico was previously owned by a partnership of Royal Sons and Skyway Communications Holding Corp. (Symbol: SWYCQ) of 6021, 142nd Avenue North Clearwater, Florida. SWYCQ's web site states, "SWYC was founded in 2000 by Mr. Brent Kovar. SWYC’s focus includes in-flight wireless Homeland Security and In-flight Entertainment (IFE) service." In 2003, then-House Majority Leader Tom DeLay appointed Kovar as Honorary Chairman of the Business Advisory Council of the National Republican Congressional Committee. According to the Securities and Exchange Commission's EDGAR database, "Kovar has been President and Director of Sky Way Aircraft since inception. In addition, as president and director of research and development and engineering, Mr. Kovar founded Sky Way Global in 2000, a high speed broadband wireless service company. From 1996 to 2000, Mr. Kovar served as the executive vice president and director of research and development for Satellite Access Systems, a satellite services company. In 1990, Mr. Kovar founded PC, Ltd., a company that produced specialty-designed remote controlled arm and RF/communications related products, and until 1996, he served as president and director of new product engineering. From 1987 to 1989, he was associated with Jacobs Engineering, an national engineering company in Pasadena, California. From 1986 to 1987, Mr. Kovar worked with Falcon Communications as a wireless communications engineer."

In 1999, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) broke open a major conspiracy involving a Saudi prince’s Colombian cocaine smuggling from Venezuela to support some “future intention” involving Koranic prophecy. The DEA operations were contained in a “Declassification of a Secret DEA 6 Paris Country Office” memorandum dated June 26, 2000, a date which coincided with the height of Israeli art student and 911 hijacker activity in the United States. In June 1999, 808 kilograms of cocaine were seized in Paris. At the same time, the DEA was conducting a major investigation of the Medellin drug cartel called Operation Millennium.

"Through an intercepted fax, the Bogota Country Office of the DEA learned of the Paris cocaine seizure and linked the drug smuggling operation to the Saudis. The DEA investigation centered around Saudi Prince Nayif al Saud, whose alias was El Principe (the Prince). Nayif's full name is Nayif (or Nayef) bin Fawwaz al-Shaalan al-Saud. In pursuit of his international drug deals, Nayif traveled in his own Boeing 727 and used his diplomatic status to avoid customs checks. The DEA report stated Nayif studied at the University of Miami, Florida, owned a bank in Switzerland, speaks eight languages, was heavily invested in Venezuela’s petroleum industry, regularly visited the United States, and traveled with millions of dollars of U.S. currency. Nayif is also invested in Colombia's petroleum industry."

NG_K

[CaptW5]

DC-9 seized in Mexican drug bust was SkyWay in-flight broadband entertainment demonstrator


http://www.flightglobal.com/Articles/2006/04/28/206247/DC-9+seized+in+Mexican+drug+bust+was+SkyWay+in-flight+broadband+entertainment.html

[B Sousa]

In case we forgot....there is still a lot of smuggling going on and lots of money being made.
Who would take bets that now that the Gubament is hamstrung with the immigration issue that the big guys are laughing their asses off with huge loads coming into the moron druggies in the states........
N900SA has been in Las Vegas in the past. Most thought it was some kind of Homeland Security shuttle.....DUH

www.madcowprod.com