100 Pounds of Drug Found on Jet
A maintenance worker found 100 pounds of cocaine hidden in the rest room of a Pan American World Airways jetliner shortly after the plane’s arrival on a flight from Los Angeles Tuesday evening, the Drug Enforcement Administration announced.
The illegal drug cache was found after Flight 43 arrived at San Francisco International Airport at 6:22 p.m., DEA spokesman Joseph Krueger said Wednesday.
It was discovered in kilogram-size packages after the passengers and crew members had disembarked, Krueger said.
Although hiding cocaine inside a commercial aircraft is a method that has been used by smugglers in Florida and the southeastern United States, it is the first such case uncovered in the San Francisco Bay Area, according to Krueger.
Krueger said the plane made stops in Costa Rica, Panama and Miami before going to Los Angeles and on to San Francisco.
The jetliner was returned to Pan Am and cleared to return to Los Angeles at 11 a.m. Wednesday.
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