Police in Jamaica have charged a flight attendant who they say tried to take cocaine out of the country through Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston. According to the Jamaica Constabulary Force, routine security screening on Monday 12 October picked up anomalies in his luggage, and a search found 3.4 kilograms of cocaine1. He is a suspect, not a convicted person, and is presumed innocent unless a court decides otherwise.

What the police say

In its press release, the police say the flight attendant was due to board a JetBlue Airways flight to New York at about 8:00 a.m. when screening flagged his luggage. Detectives from the Firearm and Narcotics Investigation Division (FNID) then carried out a detailed search and, according to the police, found a pouch containing two packages of cocaine with a combined weight of 3.4 kilograms. The police put the street value at JM$2.9 million. He was taken into custody1.

At about 1:30 p.m. the same day, investigators searched his home. The police say they seized a licensed 9mm pistol and more than 120 rounds of ammunition there1. They have not said whether that seizure is connected to the case.

On Wednesday 14 October he was charged with possession of cocaine, dealing in cocaine, attempting to export cocaine and conspiracy to export cocaine, The Gleaner reports, citing the police. The police say further charges are pending. He is due to appear before the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court on Tuesday 20 October2. In a separate case at the same airport that afternoon, a second man who was about to fly to Canada was arrested after police say 5.6 kilograms of cocaine was found in his luggage13.

What is not known

The police only say that the flight attendant was due to board a JetBlue flight. Which airline employs him has not been confirmed, and it is not known whether he was rostered to work that flight or was travelling as a passenger. No public comment from JetBlue has been reported. The police did not name either man in their own release1; Jamaican media later published the flight attendant's name24. We are not naming him, because he has not been convicted.

The case has not been tested in court. The charges are allegations, and the first hearing is still to come.

What it means for crews

The first lesson is a simple one: crew members and their bags are screened. According to the police, the cocaine was found during routine security screening1. Crew status does not exempt anyone from security checks. Drugs and crew have been in the news elsewhere this month too, for example in a business jet charter case in Laos, and we have looked earlier at what crew security and medical screening is designed to catch.

The second lesson concerns careers. In the United States, where this flight was heading, aircraft operators must run a fingerprint-based criminal history records check before staff get unescorted access to secure areas, and before pilots serve as flightcrew members56. A conviction for distributing a controlled substance, or for a felony involving importing one, is a disqualifying offence, and so is a conviction for an attempt or conspiracy to commit such an offence5. An arrest alone is not: if a records check shows an arrest for one of these offences without an outcome, the operator must first establish whether it led to a conviction before the person can serve6.

For pilots there is an extra layer. Under FAA rules, a conviction under any federal or state law on the possession, transport or import of drugs is grounds for suspending or revoking a pilot certificate, or for refusing an application for up to a year7. Separately, no one may operate a civil aircraft in the United States knowing that illegal drugs are on board8. For anyone training for or starting an aviation career, the practical point is that the US records check looks back ten years and counts convictions in any jurisdiction5, so a drug conviction can follow a crew member for a long time.