MAFIA MEN JOIN FLYING CLUBS TO SMUGGLE DRUGS IN

Russian and Chechen mafia gangs are infiltrating private flying clubs
to smuggle in drugs.

Customs and Excise officers are issuing guidelines to Britain's 220
clubs on how to vet new members, and ways to detect suspicious
individuals trying to hire planes. Light aircraft schools and flying
associations have also been alerted.

The rewards for smugglers can be vast. Heroin, with a street price of
UKP74 a gram, accounts for 80 per cent of all drugs seized from light
aircraft.

The gangsters also trade in softer drugs. Recently Dutch officers
found 50 kgs of amphetamines and 15 kgs of cannabis in a pre-flight
check on a Beech Baron aircraft hired in the UK.

And 150 kgs of cannabis were also found on a Cessna 150 abandoned in a
farmer's field after flying from Holland.

Customs investigators say the majority of those arrested appear to
have legitimate credentials but are linked to drug smuggling
organisations.

Owning a private pilot's licence is no longer the preserve of the
rich. Learning to fly costs from UKP95 per hour for a single-engined
craft, and hiring a plane is as little as UKP50 an hour.

Pilots need between 45 and 50 hours flying time for a licence and can
hire a plane after a medical check and a supervision flight with a
club pilot.

Paul Kirkup, spokesman for the Customs' anti-drugs alliance programme
which works with the flying community to try to combat crime, believes
smugglers are capitalising on "less than vigorous" vetting procedures
at the clubs.

"Our intelligence shows that organised gangs of Russian and Chechen
mafia are involved as well as other groups," he said. "This is
indicated by the backgrounds of those arrested. These are very
intelligent criminal gangs, not just ordinary thieves.

"These people spend a few months to gain respectability and to get the
confidence of the people in a club. This then gives them free licence
to use a plane and then take it back and forwards to the continent.
Customs officers are educating clubs about being more vigilant but we
are operating on limited resources and clubs must think about
tightening up their vetting procedures."

There are several ways to distinguish between the men in Pringle
sweaters who just want to enjoy the thrill of flying and those with
more devious intentions, says Mr Kirkup.

Clients carrying large amounts of money, who pay cash to hire an
aircraft or who are deliberately vague about an intended trip, should
be treated with suspicion.

There are now 8,500 light aircraft in this country, which represents a
20 per cent increase in 10 years. The Denham School of Flying in
Buckinghamshire has 150 members paying UKP141 a year. Ruth Dowie, the
operations manager, says the school has cracked down after Customs'
warnings on people wanting to use the club.

"We are certainly careful of dodgy characters who are paying with
large amounts of cash," she says. "It's a small airfield here and it's
difficult to check what is going in and out. We are a school but it's
very much a club atmosphere. People

want to socialise so we have parties and barbecues. It would be very
easy for someone to come in and befriend us, andthen betray us."

Martin Robinson, chief executive of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots
Association (Aopa), admits that it is difficult to screen people
because criminals would naturally lie about their intentions.

He said members of Aopa were already reporting suspicious behaviour to
a confidential drugs line, adding: "There is no real reason why a club
should know exactly what a person's business is. It is difficult if Mr
Smith says he is going to visit relatives in France and disappears for
a few days."