Pubdate: Wed, 25 Oct 2006
Source: Morning Star, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2006 The Morning Star
Contact:  http://www.vernonmorningstar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1352
Author: Dave Bissell
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)

PILOT SUSPECTED IN PREVIOUS DRUG BUST

The pilot of last week's fatal plane crash in the North Okanagan hills
was under suspicion for an earlier drug bust on the Okanagan Indian
Reserve in February.

Vernon RCMP say James Darwin, 39, of Vernon, was a person of interest
in February's incident, where several bags of dried and packaged
marijuana were seized in a field at Head-of-the-Lake on the reserve
that had been left there by a light aircraft.

"We, as the police, can't definitively say it was him," said Vernon
RCMP Cpl. Henry Proce, when asked if Darwin was the pilot of the
aircraft in February.

"He was a person of interest but there was insufficient evidence to
lay a charge. If we had known for sure (he was the pilot) he would
have been charged."

Witnesses said they saw a small plane land in a field and people were
unloading black bales and hiding them in the bushes.

A 52-year-old Vernon man, whose truck was stuck in the mud, was
arrested at the scene and taken into custody.

The plane had taken off but witnesses were able to get the plane's
call letters.

Darwin died in last Wednesday's crash of a 1976 Piper that apparently
ran out of fuel and crashed into a rugged area near Bouleau Lake, on
the west side of Okanagan Lake.

More than 100 kilograms of cocaine were found inside the plane in
suitcases.

The plane had been rented from a Kamloops flight school on Oct. 13.

The investigation into the crash is continuing.
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MAP posted-by: Derek