Snow at LHR - SAA Drug Woes (Merged)
 

BBC NEWS | UK | Cabin crew held over drug haul

15 cabin crew arrested at LHR after 110lbs of cannabis was found on an SAA aircraft.

Good job it wasn't Dubai!

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update from BBC to say that the 15 include flight crew as well.

Ha ha, like it, who grassed up......ok i admit it took me awhile, i blame being on an early!

I guess the tip off must have been the cabin crew looked like the really, really enjoyed their job, that must have given the game away!

More SAA Crew in clink WW
 

Correct me if I am wrong.. Does SAA have the highest number of crew in jail around the world...? for such things....

Where theres smoke..theres fire...:E

Why the arrest?
 

Don't you normally just get a caution when it's for own use?

That amount would be trafficking - never justifiable as personal use.

I wonder if the Police will offer to cut a deal.



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(Remember just like the breath test situations all involved are innocent at this time.)

SFB - I am sorry but what kind of comment is that? I have some really good friends working for SAA and they do an extremely wondeful job.

Just because SA has a high crime rate etc does not mean that they have the highest by world standard.
The USA, UK and Australia have a really high crime and drug smugling rate it is just swept under the carpet - it allows these countries to put a not so innocent face:hmm:.
SA is a great country and SAA is one of the worlds premium carriers and they have an exceptional workforce :)

As for the story from BBC - the Crew were just detained because the UK BA found cocaine on the aircraft - they however did not say that the crew are exclusively involved.
You should also note that the BBC and all other news - only tell you what they want you to see - so in future please do not always believe what the media tells you. They are run by the Rothchilds and sick Illuminati occult - who sadly rule the world and we are thier slaves trapped in the matrix - do not believe me - please look it up.

In future please refrain from stereotypes, generalizations and the sorts.

SAA was approached by the FAA and the CAA being quietly warned for safety issues this past August, stemming from the A340-200 that came back from heavy maintainence with 41 unresolved issues, one of them being a completey rusted out structural cross beam (essentially could have seriously affected the integrity of the hull and possibly broken up mid flight I imagine with any sever turbulance). They used to have over 19 senior maintenance managers with SATC, but now only 6 are left. Some of them have been replaced with people that have only 2 years experience.

It was a great airline, but because of the affirmative action policy, they have stripped the airline of most of its experienced employees, mostly being white, including the cabin crew in 2000 (I think it was in 2000) where they sacked them all, made them re-apply and only took 500 back out of the 2,500. Don't get me wrong, I do believe there should be equal representation of employees, but I do not believe you throw the baby out with the bathwater i.e. getting rid of experienced crew, replacing them with unqualified people for the sake of affirmative action. Change takes time, and I am sick and tired of the racist card flying up to cover up wrong doing and unsafe practice. The promise in 1994 was to be colourblind, and today in SA it is hardly that. Two wrongs do not make a right. I think people need to start being frank about what is going on there and not being so focused on colour.

In terms of pilots, apparently they were unable to pass pilot training in the UK, so Dr. Ngqula has said the training would take place in SA and they would make sure that they were more successful.

This all does not bode well for SAA. Safety is paramount to an airline's successful operation. Today's news is only one more bad issue for the airline to overcome. If issues like these keep cropping up, I would venture to guess that the Star Alliance will soon be approaching them....

Oh Dear...
 

Nicely said, Yaletown. I am from SA and agree with you completely. I'm glad to see that there are people in this (international) world that see more than just what everyone wants to believe.

SAA used to be a extremely good airline (as most service related businesses in SA were before), but alas... not anymore...

Keep it real!

assuming the cameras at the departure airport the crew left from were actually working surely the authorities could quickly identify if any crew checked in/carried on the suspect bag(s). problem solved!

When I read this I was not surprised. Let's put it like this... having had dealings with SAA before and after Coleman Andrews, this is no surprise. F/A and F/C have been busted before for drug smuggling. 50 kilos is not much. It's split across three suitcases... 2 x 15kg, 1 x 20kg, plus the 4 kilos of Colombia's finest in one of the 15 kilo bags.

It definitely needed people at JNB to let this through (and SA media already reports that a female security guard has been arrested - who confessed - what are the chances that she's been threatened), and then the hope that no-one ever stops cabin crew in London (a misnomer because c/c are just as often and randomly checked as pax are).

Those who are guilty of this are an embarrassment to your profession, but again, it is no surprise in the current climate in South Africa. Crime is rampant, and either people want to escape the townships and elevate themselves to nicer surroundings (by resorting to some on-the-side work), or are simply pressured by gangsters into complying (*eish* We know where your parents live).

I certainly hope it's the latter, but considering it's three bags, it needed more than one person to try and do this.

A real shame to see the flying springbok take such a dive...

S.

According to BBC a new one, £250,000 worth found

Looks like quite a cottage industry going on there!

First good 'ol Khaya (Mr Ego) is being pushed out the back door (not gracefully though - and pension intact + golden handshake) - now this!

Many of us knew the turning point.... and why expect it will ever get any better?

Godspeed.

They'll be running out of crews soon! Obviously not the sharpest tacks in the box, or maybe they thought lightning wouldn't strike 3 times in the same place!!!!

I am ex police. In the town I worked in most teenagers down the park had more than that. Besides, better a happy criminal who only wants to eat his way through a tube of pringles and watch 'hitchhikers guide to the galaxy', no?

Hmmmm, maybe that's why I'm ex police?!