Millions in Cocaine Seized From Plane

A Canadian man was being held on drug charges Saturday after officials seized a cargo plane that apparently ran low on fuel before landing with more than 1,300 kilograms of cocaine, worth an estimated $130 million, authorities said.

Police searched the residential neighborhood surrounding the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton Airport for two other men who fled the DC-3 after it landed shortly before midnight Friday.

Harold Hill, 46, was arraigned Saturday and was being held in Lehigh County Jail on $10-million bail, according to Lehigh County Dist. Atty. William Platt.

Officials said Hill was arrested by state police after the plane landed to refuel.

Platt said the pilot turned off the plane’s lights as it approached the airport. The pilot turned on the lights just before landing near the airport fuel tanks.

“The plane came in without radio clearance, lights or a transponder going, and the tower alerted the airport police,” Platt said. “It was not spotted on radar. . . . It was not spotted until it was visually sighted by the tower.”

Police said the three men on board the plane were met by an airport security guard and an airport firefighter. The men fled on foot and were chased by the two airport employees, who were joined by state police.

“When the police approached them, they said they landed because they needed fuel and they thought the tower was closed,” Platt said. “They said they were going to a phone . . . and they ran.”

Hill was apprehended near the airport and was charged with possession of cocaine with intent to deliver and conspiracy. The other two suspects, identified as pilot William McGoldrich and a man known only as “Rick,” escaped.

The cargo area of the aging propeller-driven plane was about three-quarters full of 28 military-style duffel bags stuffed with 1-kilogram bricks of nearly pure cocaine, Platt said.

“They (officers) thought, based on the quantity, that it must be marijuana,” Platt said. “When they found it was cocaine, they were shocked.”

No weapons were found with the 1,349 kilograms--2,967 pounds--of cocaine, Platt said.

Platt said police believe the flight originated in Colombia and was on its way to Canada, possibly making drops along the way.

“There were marks on some of the containers that led us to believe some of the drugs were destined for New York and Canada,” he said.

A preliminary hearing on the charges was scheduled for Friday. If convicted, Hill faces up to 10 years in jail, Platt said.