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South African Airways cabin crews will have their bags routinely searched after 15 staff were detained on drug smuggling charges at London’s Heathrow airport.
When police arrived, one crew member attempted to escape by hijacking a drinks trolley, but only made it as far as business class.
The arrests and seizure mean that local addicts will be unable to get the cannabis and cocaine they wanted, meaning their choices are now restricted to the chicken and the fish.
British prosecutors are confident of convicting the group, telling The Daily Grind that “where they’re going, I doubt these smugglers will be finding exits here, here and here.”
“I hope they’re used to eating small, low-quality meals.”
No-one suspected that the plane was full of class-A narcotics until the pilot told passengers that the plane had reached its cruising altitude of 25,000 feet 20 minutes before take-off.
But cannabis and cocaine aren’t the only intoxicating substances being smuggled on SAA aircraft. A recent flight took off with 216,000 litres of a dangerous inhalant called “aviation fuel” and landed with almost none: police believe it was “huffed” by petrol-sniffers.
Introducing the tough new crew-search measures, SAA explained it was concerned that if staff smoked even a small portion of the 50 kilos of cannabis found on one flight, they could end up eating all the little bags of peanuts.
Said one crew member, “but how do they get all the peanuts into the little bag? It’s so tiny.”
New rules include that if a crew member wants to smuggle more than 10kg of any drug on board an SAA flight, they’ll have to include it with their checked baggage.
Crew members taking drugs can experience distortion in perceptions of time and space, and even the sensation of flying.
The SAA tailfin design depicts two lines of cocaine on the South African flag.
