Fri, Oct 12, 2007

Was Crashed Gulfstream II Drug Plane Owned By CIA?

Registered 'Owner' Appears To Be A Front

Quiz: what's the connection between the CIA... a dummy front company... and a cocaine-packed, Gulfstream II business jet that crashed in the Yucatan jungle several weeks ago?

The Associated Press reports the crashed plane's flight logs listed several visits to Guantánamo Bay, Cuba; once from Oxford, CT, and once from Washington, DC.

Some news reports wonder what the aircraft, with tail number N987SA, was doing flying into highly restricted airspace. They also pondered whether there's a link to "rendition," as the feds call it: the transport of suspected terrorists to the island's US detention center.

Back south of the border, Mexican officials seized 132 bags of cocaine weighing 3.7 tons from the blue and white jet, which reportedly belongs to Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman. Some Mexicans reportedly revere Guzman, viewing him as a local Robin Hood, divvying up some of the drug cash to the poor.

"The cocaine was to be delivered to El Chapo," an official in the Mexican attorney general's office charges. Speaking on condition of anonymity, he admits, "We do know it was from Colombia."

The Mexican pilot and two other suspects are in custody, Mexican authorities say. Officials add that two of the suspects even tried bribing their way out of the hoosegow, offering to cut a deal giving them back the cocaine and freeing any crewmembers.

Meanwhile, the Mad Cow Morning News wonders if the jet might have been used by "The Boys" at Langley.

"When it comes to registering airplanes, it's the Wild West out there," an aviation executive in Venice, FL said.

"The FAA system for registering airplanes is little-changed from when it was started back in the good ol boy days of the 1930's. Each plane has a paper folder, for example, stuffed with all correspondence regarding airworthiness and ownership relating to that plane," the source notes.

"It's an antiquated system which some feel is kept deliberately in place to encourage a certain ambiguity when a plane is interdicted. When a change of registration is mailed in, the FAA places a plane's folder in what they call 'suspense.'"

And speaking of 'suspense'... curiosity over the aircraft's true identity and owners only deepened when reporters visited registered owner "Donna Blue Aircraft, Inc. " of Coconut Beach FL. They were greeted by an "empty office suite with a blank sign out front."

Adding to the strangeness at the offices on 4811 Lyons Technology Parkway #8 in Coconut Beach, were the six unmarked police cars parked directly out front. Butters Development, the industrial park's leasing agent, did not return calls, according to the report.

And the topper? Donna Blue's Internet page appears to be only a roughed-out mock-up, with no clear identifying details... save a dubious "testimonial" by a satisfied customer, named -- get this -- "John Doe." Listed phone number: 415-555-5555.

But, save your dime. You can be sure that it's not a real number.