On October 24, 2004 a Citation X operated by Air Luxor was impounded at Caracas Airport after 400 kilograms of cocaine were found stowed in the luggage compartment.

Things deteriorated further for the Portuguese operator when it became clear that the Venezuelan authorities were not prepared to release the Citation’s crew, despite having been alerted to the cocaine’s presence by the aircraft’s captain. Instead, the three-person crew – captain, co-pilot and stewardess – found themselves

in a Venezuelan jail, arrested under suspicion of involvement in cocaine smuggling. The aircraft itself remains impounded in Venezuela, though Air Luxor claim it is being used by a general in the Venezuelan National Guard, who allegedly enjoys using the luxury aircraft to visit locations such as Aruba and Curacao.

Clearly, the case raises any number of nightmarish prospects for operators and crew caught up in similar situations. For Carlos Pacheco, public relations manager at Air Luxor and the man charged with managing the crisis, it’s been a complicated and exasperating few months. He commented: “It’s irritating because if our crew hadn’t followed the right procedures, none of this would have happened.”

According to Air Luxor, what did happen is this: the aircraft was due to leave Caracas Airport bound for Lisbon, when one of the three passengers informed the captain that they would be transporting money on the aircraft. Air Luxor ops told the captain that this would be fine, as long as he had the right papers. Having approached Customs for the papers, the captain headed back

to the Citation to find that the aircraft’s luggage compartment doors weren’t closed properly. Upon opening the doors to check inside, the captain and co-pilot discovered 12 suitcases, unaccounted for on any documentation, which they promptly began to remove. The captain also alerted the authorities, who detained the crew, passengers and baggage handlers for further questioning.

Despite the obvious concern of finding suspicious luggage on the aircraft, the situation at this stage seemed clear cut to the operator: having found suspicious items on the aircraft, the captain had removed them and called the police. The Venezuelan authorities, however, saw things differently. With an American Government report citing ‘large quantities of cocaine, heroin, and marijuana transiting [Venezuela] bound for the US and Europe,’ the Venezuelan authorities are all too familiar with such scenarios. Having presumably heard all the excuses going, it’s perhaps understandable that they may assume the worst and ask questions later. The crew, therefore, found themselves under as much suspicion as the passengers.

Air Luxor, however, are outraged. Carlos Pacheco claimed: “If this had happened in a different country, such the UK, we’re absolutely sure that

the crew would have been released

a lot earlier.” Indeed the system in

the UK, for example, for

such occurrences does seem clear

cut, allowing crew members to

report suspicious packages anonymously, thus precluding the possibility of their arrest.

A spokesperson for HM Customs and Excise told EBAN: “Any crew member of a privately chartered aircraft who thinks there may be contraband on board should contact Customs Confidential, anonymously if they wish, on the following UK number: 0800 595000, and we would take any investigation from there.”

Air Luxor is convinced that the role of the Venezuelan authorities needs

to be examined too. “It’s the airport authorities who are responsible

for security issues. It was them

who failed their responsibilities,”

said Pacheco. “Who would be

held responsible if, instead of

drugs, the luggage contained bombs? The authorities, of course. How

was it possible that this luggage

was brought to the aircraft without being scanned?”

When asked, ‘Are you going to review your security procedures

in the light of this incident?’

Pacheco becomes agitated. “No! Because the crew did exactly what they were supposed to do. If they

had gone ahead with the flight regardless, it would have prompted questions from the Portuguese authorities in Lisbon, who would want to know why they left Caracas knowing there were suspicious packages on board the aircraft.

“Another important point is that this Citation X can only take 350 kgs of luggage in the luggage compartment. But in drugs alone it had 400 kgs, which on top of the crew’s luggage would make it impossible for the aircraft to take off. If the crew were involved, surely

they would like to live to see some profit out of the load? But with the weight and balance as it was the aircraft would surely have had a tail strike at the end of the runway, and no pilot or captain would knowingly allow this to happen.”

Pacheco raises a number of compelling points, and from Air Luxor’s perspective it does seem that an innocent crew has been caught up in a situation not of their own making. Regardless, it took the Venezuelan authorities two weeks to release the captain and stewardess from jail after court hearings clearly established they had nothing to do with the cocaine. However, co-pilot Luis Santos has been moved to an apartment in Caracas, where he remains under house arrest.

Carlos Pacheco thinks he knows why: “In order to keep the plane, the authorities have to find a link between the aircraft and the owner, or something related to the owner. Hence the co-pilot. It makes for a good excuse to keep the aircraft, and we believe that’s the only reason the co-pilot is still there. It’s a bit like robbery I think. They have no evidence against him.”

At the time of going to press,

Air Luxor co-pilot Luis Santos was

still awaiting trial and the Citation

X remains impounded. The Venezuelan authorities declined to comment on the case.