Air crew held at Heathrow over 5kg bag of cocaine

THE entire crew of a South African Airways flight to Heathrow are due to be questioned today after they were arrested on suspicion of smuggling drugs - the second time in four weeks a South African crew has been caught up in such a scandal.

The 15 crew members, including the pilot, were arrested after five kilos of cocaine with an estimated street value of £250,000 was discovered in a bag.

On 21 January another 15 crew members, on a Johannesburg to London flight, were arrested and £310,000 of cannabis and cocaine were seized.

Heathrow spokesman for HM Revenue and Customs, Bob Gaiger, said: "It is quite amazing that it appears to have happened again.

"Crew members are subject to the same customs checks as any other person when entering the UK.

"Those arrested are now being held in custody.

"I expect that the crew will be questioned further tonight [by HMRC investigation officers] and tomorrow before we will know how things will develop."

The crew members who were arrested last month were bailed to return to Heathrow police station on 23 March.

A spokesman for South African Airways said an investigation had been launched in the wake of the arrests.

He added: "I can confirm that the crew of the 234 Johannesburg to London flight have been detained.

"This comes following the discovery of illegal drugs in a bag that I believe to be hand luggage that wasn't claimed."

The spokesman also said that security measures had been tightened after the last embarrassment.

"We installed more security systems air-side and started using sniffer dogs," he said.