Cocaine planes make a "Bogotá Connection"

[seemslikeadream]

http://narcosphere.narconews.com/story/2008/4/11/211822/931

Cocaine planes make a "Bogotá Connection"
By Bill Conroy,
Posted on Fri Apr 11th, 2008 at 09:18:22 PM EST
Federal Aviation Administration records obtained recently by Narco News offer some razor sharp evidence that a fat line of connections in the ongoing cocaine plane mystery leads right back to the nose of the U.S. government.
At the time a Gulfstream II jet, packed with nearly four tons of cocaine, crashed in Mexico’s Yucatan on Sept. 24 of last year, the owners of that jet were Clyde O’Connor and Greg Smith — both pilots who hail from Florida.

Both men have since vanished like vapor in the wake of that ill-fated Gulfstream II’s misadventure, but the paper trail has now caught up to them.


The Gulfsteam II jet (with the tail number N987SA) has been linked to past use in the CIA’s terrorist rendition program, according to media reports and an investigation by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
And now, via FAA and other documents obtained by Narco News, both Smith and O’Connor have been connected to yet another jet that has been used by U.S. government agencies (including the DEA, FBI and CIA) to advance covert operations targeting Latin America.

That jet is a Hawker business-class cruiser with the tail number N230TS. FAA records show that between Feb. 9, 2001, and June 16, 2005, Clyde O’Connor bought and sold this Hawker jet a total of five times through a series of three companies in which he is listed as an officer or “member.” In other words, O’Connor was essentially moving the Hawker jet back and forth between companies he controlled, according to the FAA records.

Those companies are the following:

[stillcool]

1. It seems like I've read this story before...

the 'rendition' part is a new twist, but the CIA running drugs is so familiar. I bet those poppy fields in Afghanistan are keeping them busy these days.

[seemslikeadream]

2. mysterious story of a US-registered cargo plane loaded with 64 "mercernaries"

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/002678.php

This has me wondering.

If you've been reading the news the last few days you may have noticed this odd and somewhat mysterious story of a US-registered cargo plane loaded with 64 "mercernaries" and various military equipment which was impounded Sunday night at Harare International Airport in Zimbabwe "after its owners had made a false declaration of its cargo and crew."

When asked about it on Monday, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said "We have no indication this aircraft is connected to the U.S. government."

That seemed like a rather less than unequivocal response. And behind the scenes US government officials said they didn't believe the US government had any connection with this operation. But they wanted to make sure before saying anything definitive.

Now, if you look at the press accounts, what's caught people's attention is the US registry of the plane. Specifically, it's registered to a company called Dodson Aviation, which is based in Kansas.

Now, Dodson says they sold the plane to a "reputable" firm in South Africa about a week ago. "I think they were going to use it for charter flights," company director Robert Dodson told the Associated Press.

Now here's a little more detail.

[seemslikeadream]

3. Mercenary accused 'guarded' Haiti's Aristide

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=68&art_id=vn20040820064708187C253634

By Peta Thornycroft

Harare - One of the 70 alleged South African mercenaries on trial in Zimbabwe was guarding deposed Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide days before he was taken into custody.



Raymond Stanley Archer told a makeshift court in Zimbabwe's maximum security jail on Thursday that he was having lunch with his ex-wife in Johannesburg when he got a phone call offering him a job to guard a mine.

He said he had arrived back in South Africa three days earlier after an assignment as a bodyguard to Aristide - who has since been granted temporary asylum in South Africa - when a man whom he identified as James Kershaw contacted him on his cellphone.

'I have been recruited in the same way before'
"He said if I could get to the airport within an hour, I could have the job. I met the rest of the accused and flew out. I had met about 10 of them before.

"As far as I was concerned, we stopped in Harare to refuel."

He and three other accused who testified on Thursday said they would be paid $6 000 (about R39 000) a month to guard a mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

[DCKit]

4. Jeebus, they're getting sloppy.

Pretty soon it'll be O'Hare where they're getting busted.

Respectable criminals wouldn't associate with these amateurs.

[Oldenuff]

5. Ya don't have to be

professional,when you are the CIA.