Spanish Authorities Seize Helicopter in Cross-Border Cannabis Trafficking Case

The facts date back to October 2010. The Spanish authorities had seized a helicopter from Mr. Attia’s air transport company for cannabis trafficking, as reported by La Voix du Nord. The investigators had nicknamed this Écureuil-type aircraft "Air Cannabis", as it was not the first time the vehicle had been stopped for this type of trafficking. In 2008, the gendarmes had already intercepted it in the Hérault with 567 kilos of cannabis on board. "We had nothing to do with it," claims the founder of the Aéronord company in Prouvy, assuring that the manager had rented his property to a Corsican company.

In 2010, the helicopter had been rented to a private pilot based in Cannes. "In the North, there is not enough work for this type of machine. So I rented them out" for EDF line surveillance missions, passenger or freight transport, he explains. "This pilot had VIP clients he was transporting on the Côte d’Azur," the owner confides. A new drug case breaks out. As for the first one, "we had to make a 50,000 € proposal to the manager," Jacques Attia suspects. It was a question of transporting drugs from Morocco to Cadiz, Spain.

The aircraft will be seized by the Spanish investigators, then left abandoned in the parking lot of an impound lot near the Spanish coast, in Almería. "You leave it nine months by the sea, the parts are corroded." In 2011, the Spanish authorities returned the helicopter to its owner. The vehicle will be transported to a repair shop in Paris. The damage was estimated at 900,000 €, which exceeds the purchase price of the aircraft (850,000 €).

"I managed to rebalance the company but it cut the ground from under my feet, I had lots of projects. After that, I had to start from scratch," explains Mr. Attia. For years, the manager has been trying to have his loss recognized by his insurance and the State, at the origin of the request for seizure in Spain. "But they keep passing the buck. I was dismissed on appeal and in cassation," he says. He turned to the Council of State to obtain compensation, the loss being estimated at three million euros. The council’s decision is expected in three weeks.