Airline urges Ottawa to aid in crew’s safe return

An airline whose crew was detained in the Dominican Republic along with its passengers after alerting authorities to 200 kilograms of cocaine hidden in an internal compartment is urging the federal government to intervene ahead of a court hearing that could force them back to jail. Eric Edmondson, CEO of Pivot Airlines, sent a letter to Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly asking her to call on the Caribbean country to ensure the crew’s safe return to Canada. “For more than 24 days, our crew has been subject to threats against their lives, inhumane treatment and arbitrary detention for dutifully reporting a crime and averting a potential aviation disaster,” Edmondson wrote. “Time is of the essence.” Five Pivot Airlines crew members and six passengers were scheduled to return to Canada from Punta Cana on a chartered aircraft on April 5. Before takeoff, a mechanic discovered suspected contraband on board and police in Canada and the Dominican Republic were alerted. If the plane had taken off, Edmondson said, the location of the contraband could have sparked an uncontrollable fire. Dominican authorities jailed all 11 people on the plane, sending men and women to separate facilities, according to the airline. On April 6, the Dominican Republic’s National Directorate for Drug Control released a statement that said the group was “being questioned to determine their possible involvement” in the attempted shipment of illicit drugs. Two-hundred kilograms of cocaine, stashed in eight gym bags, was seized from the aircraft. Edmondson said the men were sent to a prison meant for narcotics criminals and were subject to harassment and beatings. The airline hired someone to ensure Pivot staff were fed and protected to some extent in prison, he said. Story has more.<br/>