Stupid Question! ...but

[RDM]

Was going to post this in the ongoing thread about the aircraft down in Hope but did not think appropriate so I will here.

 

What exactly have you guys been talking about for the last year about running drugs on the West Coast with Rotorcraft.

 

Is it all local?

 

Cross the border?

 

Are they stealing these aircraft?

 

You say the aircraft in mention was of "interest" to the authorities.....what about registration?

 

Sorry to be so stunned, (don't say it, shut up before you start )

[Skidz]

What is it they used to say on CBC ? Oh yeah: "30 minutes later in Newfoundland..."

[RDM]

What's wrong, can't read.........I said "don't say it, shut up before you start" , just answer the question numbnuts

[407 too]

here RDM, you can borrow this for your reply to skidz

[twinstar_ca]

i'll take pity on a fellow mod... :up:

 

it's been centered around the escapades where a 206 and a 47J were abandoned on a bc reserve, some company named pinnacle reef, and that sort of thing.. we have some threads back a couple of pages on it all..

[Skidz]

:jerry:

[67november]

twinne is refering to the thread "stolen from who" in this forum.

[Red]

While sort of on the subject; does anyone know what ever happened with that downed 206(?) in Abbotsford a little while ago. The one where they weren't sure if the BF was the pilot or not, etc.

 

Red

[justfly]

Here's another recent story about smuggling with that load carrying BEAST... the R22! :shock:

 

It'd be funny except these a$$holes are going to screw things up for the rest of us with all the knee-jerk nonsense reaction to these activities by law enforcement and legislators towards helicopters and aviation that will surely come! :angry: :down: But at least they were nabbed on the U.S. side where there may actually be criminal consequences! :up: They must be getting quite the Canadian contingent over there in the Federal Detention Center in Seatac. These clowns will be able to swap tales of woe with the Langley tunnel crew.

 

Area men accused of airlifting pot into U.S.

By David Burke dburke@whistlerquestion.com

 

Pembertonian, two others face preliminary hearing today in Seattle

 

Three British Columbians, including one from Pemberton and one from Squamish, are being detained by authorities in the United States for allegedly smuggling marijuana by helicopter into Washington State.

 

Shane Menzel from Pemberton, Jake Humphrey from Squamish and Paul McCluskey from Coquitlam appeared before a U.S. magistrate in Seattle last Thursday (Sept. 15) and were ordered detained until a preliminary hearing scheduled today (Sept. 22).

 

An affidavit sworn by Jesse Miller, a Special Agent with the U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (formerly known as the U.S. Customs Service) alleges that the three were arrested on Wednesday, Sept. 7, in a remote part of Skagit County, near the town of Darrington.

 

Miller states that tree-clearing activity was noted off Forest Service Road 28. Two men were seen cutting downed trees that had toppled during a recent storm and were blocking the road.

 

Miller stated that law-enforcement personnel went to the road and saw a clear-cut area up the mountain from where the men were working. The U.S. Forest Service had not approved logging in the area, he wrote.

 

The next day, authorities allege, McCluskey and Humphrey each drove a car toward the area of the suspected landing zone.

 

“At approximately 9:30 a.m., agents watched as the men drove up the road leading to the helicopter-landing zone,” Miller wrote. “McCluskey drove to the downed trees at the end of the road, but Humphrey stopped his car at a location down the hill.

 

“From Humphrey’s vantage point, he would be able to see approaching cars or people. There was no one else in the area except for law enforcement and these two men.”

 

At 10:40 a.m., agents saw a Robinson R-22 helicopter fly southbound and land, Miller wrote. The pilot, later identified as Menzel, emerged. McCluskey then removed two large hockey bags from the passenger side of the helicopter, then removed several individual vacuum-sealed bags — allegedly containing marijuana — from side compartments on the helicopter skids, Miller stated.

 

The two were arrested, and Humphrey was arrested a short time later. According to Miller, a total of 123 pounds of marijuana was seized.

 

In his affidavit, Miller said that Menzel later admitted having made three previous trips, and that each time he was met by McCluskey. He admitted he was paid $150 per pound to smuggle the marijuana in to the United States, Miller alleged.

 

Menzel, 29, underwent helicopter flight training in the fall of 2004 at Coast Helicopter School in Sidney, B.C., an official with the school told The Question. He received his certification to fly both Robinson R-22s and Bell 206s, the official said.

 

A member of Menzel’s family, reached last Friday, declined comment on the matter.

 

According to court documents filed by Seattle lawyer Richard J. Troberman on Menzel’s behalf, several members of the Menzel family were to have been present in court for the detention hearing last Thursday.

 

Troberman wrote that in addition to his helicopter flight training, Menzel has a licence to fly fixed-wing aircraft.

 

A biography of Humphrey which is part of the court record states that he is involved in a long-term relationship and that the couple has a 14-month-old daughter and owns a home in Squamish. He works in the film industry in Vancouver, the biography said.

 

Emily Langlie, public affairs officer with the U.S. Attorney’s office in Seattle, said that if the men are convicted, the maximum penalty for smuggling less than 100 kilograms of marijuana into the country is five years in prison.

 

However, if authorities can prove the allegation that multiple trips were made, and that more than 100 kg was smuggled, the penalty could be up to 10 years, she said.

 

Langlie said that in such cases, authorities have 20 days from the date of the arrest to bring the defendants in for a preliminary hearing or get a criminal indictment from a U.S. federal grand jury.

 

“Nine times out of 10, a preliminary hearing isn’t held, because in the interim, people are indicted by the grand jury. Someone has to be indicted by a grand jury before the case goes to trial,” she said.

[jetbox]

What a bunch of loosers!