French pilots evade drug-trafficking sentence in Dominican Republic
Two pilots of French origin sentenced to twenty years in prison for drug trafficking managed to leave Dominican territory despite the restrictions imposed.
French pilots evade drug-trafficking sentence in Dominican Republic
A Dominican court had imposed a twenty-year prison sentence on two pilots from France, who nevertheless succeeded in leaving the Caribbean nation. Pascal Fauret and Bruno Odos were apprehended in 2013 at the well-known holiday destination of Punta Cana.
According to an account published by BBC, law enforcement found 26 pieces of luggage concealing 680 kilogrammes of cocaine in their aircraft. In addition to the two commanders, two other fellow nationals who were on the plane were found responsible for the illegal trafficking of prohibited substances, although all denied the charges.
The French television outlet BMFTV revealed that the convicted men had previously served in their country's military navy and that former secret service operatives provided them with assistance to leave Dominican territory. These contacts would have allowed the sentenced men, who were under house confinement, to access a speedboat anchored off the country's coasts.
The sea voyage took them to the French Antilles, from where they embarked on a flight to the French capital. Parisian authorities firmly denied any involvement in the escape.
The legal representative of the fugitives, Jean Reinhart, told the news agency AFP that his clients returned to French territory with the intention of "seeking justice, not fleeing from it". The lawyer argued that the status of fugitives did not apply to them, since they had not escaped from a prison. He specified that, although they were subject to a travel ban, they were not remaining in a detention centre because they were still pursuing appeals against the rulings that had found them guilty.
Reinhart added that the pilots had communicated with the French judicial official who oversaw their case and had expressed their willingness to prove that they had not committed the crime attributed to them.
The apprehension of Fauret and Odos took place when they, along with Nicolas Pisapia and Alain Castany, were preparing to leave the Dominican Republic in a Dassault Falcon 50 jet. It was at that moment that the consignment of narcotics being transported in the pieces of luggage was discovered.
Six months after this event, authorities arrested another 22 people linked to a large cocaine haul intercepted in an Air France aircraft flying the route between Caracas and Paris.
Source: Google News DM — Crime