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Date was 5th of April 2022 , the aircrew of the Mississauga based Pivot Airlines found the drugs on board their aircraft (C-FWRR) and alerted authorities at the Punta Cana International Airport.
But , instead of returning to Canada as planned , the five crew members , alongside the passengers , were arrested and detained , accused of involvement in the Drug case.
Good news now is , after several months , the twelve Canadians including captain Di Venanzo and his crew , who have been detained in the Dominican Republic are returning back home.
Captain Robert Di Venanzo
On 4th November , Capt. Tim Perry, President of the Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l Canada (ALPA Canada), had issued a statement , saying ,
“After nearly seven months, the flight crew remains detained and unable to leave the country. ALPA Canada has been working extremely hard through all available means and diplomatic channels along with Pivot management, other unions, police, and government officials to bring these Canadians home."
"It is appalling that Dominican authorities have chosen to hold these individuals, knowing they followed all local and international protocols and regulations when immediately reporting their discovery.
“Evidence suggests no wrongdoing by the crew, and on August 30, Pivot’s lawyers filed for the case against the crew to be dismissed. Unfortunately, the Dominican authorities continue to ignore what has been presented to them."
Capt. Tim Perry added further ,
“Most recently, during their bail hearing on October 20, no translator was present. This was the fourth hearing where a translator, arranged by the courts, failed to show up. This also meant, once again, that the lawyers representing the crew were unable to state for the court why this case should be dismissed."
As per the latest development , the prosecutor in the case, west of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, has submitted the paperwork to free the five airline crew members and seven passengers of Pivot Air, the Toronto-based carrier that had been chartered by the passengers to fly to the Dominican Republic on March 31.
However , this still needs to be certified by a judge, which could be a formality , but the release can only be confirmed after the processes and procdures gets completed , unlike two occasions from the past where release was very close.
On the case , security videos capture a third party hiding the contraband in the plane’s avionics bay in the middle of the night , and show that the employees were in their allocated hotel the whole time , said Pivot CEO Eric Edmondson.
A local judge had earlier said that there was no evidence linking the Canadians to the drugs , they are being accused of . Also , the footage — never reported publicly before — is conclusive proof of their innocence , as per CEO Edmondson.
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It was not easy , after the arrest from the Airport , the crew and passengers had their passports confiscated and were detained in pathetic conditions af a Dominican jail.
The Flight crew and cabin crew spent nine days in jail , the passengers 21 , before being released on bail , but they were barred from leaving the country.
Since their detention from April, the crew has been trapped in Dominican Republic unable to leave the country , while authorities claim to following protocols of investigation , how the cocaine ended up in the Business Jet.
An earlier Canadian Prime Minister’s Office statement had read ,
Trudeau “raised the case of the Canadian air crew in the Dominican Republic” and that he was given “assurances that the authorities will address the matter according to the rule of law.”
