Choppers Come Easy for Canada Smugglers

Illegal Drug Trade Aided by Ready Access to Flight Training and Helicopters

(AP)  Colin Martin was on bail, appealing his sentence for leading a U.S.-Canada drug conspiracy involving aircraft. But he was still able to obtain three helicopters, two of which ended up being flown by drug smugglers.

His case illustrates the remarkable ease with which smugglers have obtained flight training and helicopters as they grab a share of Canada's sprawling, multibillion-dollar trade in marijuana, cocaine and MDMA, or Ecstasy.

Of about 10 pilots arrested in roundups of British Columbia-based helicopter smuggling operations this decade, at least half had recently trained at flight schools, sometimes dropping out once they knew just enough to handle the machine, an Associated Press review found.

Flight school operators say they don't check a student's background or monitor what students do on their own time, though they generally do ask why a student wants to become a pilot. Several said they don't want to train smugglers, but they also don't want to turn away business simply because a prospective student might be heavily tattooed or pay in cash.

"I don't think there's anything we can do," said Chinook Helicopters owner Cathy Press, who has seen several former students arrested for smuggling. "If you went and thought everyone was drug-running, you could tell the police, but maybe you're wrong - and that's not great for business."

Even if her suspicions were correct, she added, "They might put someone in jail, but someone else will step forward, so why get in the middle of it?"

A clean criminal record is not a prerequisite for a pilot's license, said Rod Nelson, a spokesman for Transport Canada, the government agency that oversees the aviation industry. Nor do Canadian officials ask students to disclose previous convictions. They do ask about any substance abuse in an applicant's past.

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration takes a similar approach, asking flight students to disclose previous convictions and requiring background checks only of foreign students, spokesman Paul Turk said.

Sam Lindsay-Brown was a clean-cut, friendly 23-year-old when he showed up at Chinook Helicopters to begin flight training in December 2007. He was also a drug smuggler. And for almost a year after Canadian police began investigating him, he remained enrolled, essentially working his way through flight school as a co-pilot on cross-border drug flights.

U.S. agents arrested Brown in February as he put his training to use by making a 426-pound marijuana drop in northeastern Washington state with one of Martin's leased helicopters. He committed suicide in jail four days later.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Transport Canada note that they can't bar people from studying as a pilot or obtaining a license without proof of criminal activity.

"The guy's 20-some-odd years of age, and he's gaining qualifications that can be used for a lawful purpose," said RCMP Cpl. Dan Moskaluk. "It's a tragedy that he chose to get involved in this line of business, instead of pursuing the lawful side of the skills he was acquiring."

The RCMP declined to say whether agents were aware he had been enrolled at flight school. They had been investigating him since spring 2008, after a woman he hired to transport 200,000 tabs of Ecstasy was arrested in California and gave his name to police.

RCMP spokesman Norm Massie said the agency had no record of Brown making prior smuggling flights, but two coconspirators confirmed to the AP that Brown had made several as a co-pilot, meaning he would be paid at least $5,000 to help load and unload contraband and keep an eye out for trouble.

The coconspirators spoke on the condition of anonymity because of their own involvement in criminal activity and fear that they could face repercussions from other drug traffickers for speaking with a reporter.

Massie declined to discuss what steps the RCMP takes to monitor flight schools, but said the agency knows that some traffickers get training there.

"We would be remiss not to include that in our investigative techniques," Massie said.

Martin, 37, was sentenced in 2007 in Canada to 2½ years in prison for leading a major drug-smuggling operation in the 1990s, one that started using an airplane after ground couriers were caught.

He said he became involved in drug trafficking about 16 years ago and remains well connected in the smuggling world, though he declined to discuss specifics; he was arrested but has not been charged in Lindsay-Brown's case. In interviews with the AP, he estimated that as many as 30 pilots across Canada make drug-smuggling flights at least occasionally.

Someone looking to hire a pilot can put the word out via Blackberry and hear from pilots as far away as Quebec or Australia by the end of the day, Martin said.

In dozens of interviews with smugglers, pilots, lawyers, Canadian and U.S. authorities, and operators of flight schools and helicopter companies, a snapshot of the highly specialized profession emerged.

Some drug-running pilots are highly experienced. Some do it full-time, and some do it on the side when legitimate business gets slow or unexpected expenses such as helicopter damage leave them struggling to pay the bills. Some enjoy the rush. Some have a thing for getting America high. They all like the money.

One, Shane Menzel, told a federal judge in Seattle that he turned to smuggling because it was so hard to find work as an inexperienced pilot. Many "low-time" pilots must work for years washing helicopters and cleaning out hangars before they get a real flying job.

People familiar with British Columbia's marijuana trade have estimated that anywhere from 30,000 to more than 80,000 pounds of pot per month is smuggled into the United States.

It's a huge business, infusing billions of dollars a year into the province's economy. The province's most prominent gangs - the Hells Angels, the United Nations, the Independent Soldiers - are believed to own most of the drugs moved across the border, but to avoid heat they leave the shipping to others.

[Sloughfoot]

"It's a huge business, infusing billions of dollars a year into the province's economy." (That says it all) Canada has no intention of hindering the illicit trade of drugs through accross it's borders.

[Dgunner]

Here is a new one not yet mentioned in the press for fear it will become boom. The dog trainers in alaska can train a dog to find its way from point A to point B by placing high pitched beacons along the path that signal a gps to guide the dog by sound pitch only the dog can hear.A healthy dog can carry ten to fifteen kilos of cocaine per dog.The cross border trip takes a dog about one and a half days to make the haul. By sending three dogs out you got seventy kilos arriving soon.The dogs are all monitored by gps and chopper. If a dog gets into trouble ? The pilot lands rescues the dog drop offs another and thier off.You will be hearing more in the future im sure.The dogs arent good for desert because of heat and infrared tracking.

[Slrman]

These smugglers are quite stupid. Radio-controlled model aircraft will do it far more cheaply and safely. Trust me on this one. The military has already started making the move to drones. For once, they are ahead of the curve.

[kueiW]

ok. Where do you get a radio controlled plane with a signal range far enough to be of use?

[TJphoto]

Legalize it, Tax the daylights out of it and the problem goes away with benefits. What a concept. When you buy a bottle of your favorite whiskey the concept is the same.

[AttentionDeficit]

Allow adults the right to grow their own, the same way we do with beer and wine.

[Slrman]

Taxed pot will be increasingly expensive as governments leap on the cash cow. Then untaxed pot, like untaxed cigarettes, booze and handbags will be profitable. The real solution is to legalize it, them make it free. It will cost less for the government to buy it and give it away than for the "ware on some drugs" that's going on now.