Pilot/Parrot Story
 

Two Indonesian Airforce pilots have been arrested in Oz trying to smuggle parrots on board a military aircraft. They were returning home from their C130 course conducted by th RAAF.

Makes me wish I was a Sun headline writer

Were they squawking?

Up before the beak no doubt

Popped up to the Perch?

Indonesian Blue?

I heard they got caught after ATC asked how many pax on board and they replied

"pieces of... 8 pieces off...8"


Hat, coat, gone.....

A bit of a headache for the authorities who were looking for a few aspirin ... but the parrots-ate-em-all :p

Hat, coat, boots, scarf .... door

They could do bird for this.

Is this Jet Blast or the Military forum :O

Love the humour :ok:

Maybe they were planning on going parrot-shooting?

I trust Customs gave those Indonesians a pollygraph test to ensure they were telling the truth.

It's pretty obvious there was no way Customs would let those birds leave the country - they were some of the most knowledgeable parrots they had ever encountered.
After questioning the parrots at length, Customs determined they were all pollymaths.

Probably a cunning plan, get type rated, kicked out then go sell there skills elsewhere...

They should have told them they thought it was a toilet duck

Unfortunately they were returning home with one of the two C130's that have been gifted to the Indons. There was to have been a big handing over ceremony at RAAF Williamtown which was cancelled as the Indons don't love us any more.

But they still want our largesse :ugh:

Back to the headlines....

Bit of a Pollyanna moment there.

John

I love that. They spit the dummy, cancel mil co operation including this ceremony and the big exercise up NT way
but won't quite ban the Indo pilots from picking up the freebie C-130's !

No wonder they look at us with disdain.

Sounds like a cracker of a story!:uhoh:

John, what sh*ts me about this whole exercise, is that trafficking in our fauna is regarded as a hanging offence for anyone else.
Other smugglers that have been caught, have been regularly fined $10,000 or $20,000, and even jailed.

Japanese Lizard Smugglers caught - Perth Now

http://www.customs.gov.au/webdata/re...fact_sheet.pdf

"The maximum penalty for illegal importing or exporting wildlife
under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation
Act 1999 is A$100,000 and/or 10 years jail."

However, it's pretty obvious someone pretty high-up stepped in here, and decided that throwing a couple of crooked Indo pilots into remand, or even putting them in the dock, could turn the Indo reaction to the whole spying episode, into something equating to a nuclear detonation.
It stinks, but I guess someone decided it wasn't worth the risk.

So what happened to them?

They were supposedly according to well informed people on here
released without charge and left the country.

Thanks for the follow-up. :ok:

No worries. It hasn't hit the media yet, I somehow doubt it will.

Smuggling birds / animals is big business and worth a lot of $$$.
They seem to jail them quicker than druggies over here !!!