Drug smugglers fly copters into U.S.

MALAKWA, British Columbia

Colin Martin was on bail, appealing his sentence for leading a U.S.-Canada drug conspiracy involving aircraft. But he was still able to acquire 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 (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 in Abbotsford to begin flight training in December 2007. He was also a suspected 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 Mr. Lindsay-Brown in February as he reportedly put his training to use by making a 426-pound marijuana drop in northeastern Washington state with one of the helicopters leased by Mr. Martin. He committed suicide in jail four days later.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) 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 Mr. Lindsay-Brown making prior smuggling flights, but two co-conspirators confirmed to the AP that Mr. Lindsay-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.

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