Aussie police link cash carrying pilot with underworld
Australian investigators have searched the residences of two local Vietnam Airlines (VNA) staff probing links of a pilot with the drug trafficking ring, Tien Phong news reported.
The search was to find further evidence after VNA pilot Tran Dinh Dan was arrested June 4 after attempting to illegally transport US$500,000 into Vietnam.
Dan, deputy head of a VNA Boeing 777 crew during interrogation admitted that he transported the money for a drug trafficking ring.
Police suspect the money was to be laundered or used to purchase more contraband in Vietnam.
An unnamed source from Vietnam Airlines also confirmed that Australian investigators have yet to permit Dan to contact anyone, even a VNA-hired lawyer.
A VNA representative in Australia is cooperating with Vietnam’s General Consulate in Sydney to prepare procedures to protect Dan during prosecution.
By Thanh Tuan - Thanh Nien - June 30, 2006
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