Cessna Pilot Charged With Cocaine Smuggling

A pilot from Calgary, Alberta, was indicted last week in California for allegedly carrying about 300 pounds of cocaine, worth some $30 million, aboard a Cessna 340 headed from San Diego to British Columbia on Sept. 27. The pilot, Daniel Raymond LeClerc, 35, was arrested when he landed to refuel at an airport in a small northern California town. According to the Calgary Sun, California narcotic task force agents received a tip that a large drug shipment was en route via a Cessna twin that would be stopping to refuel at Montague Airport. The agents stormed the airplane after it landed, and a search yielded the illegal stash. LeClerc faces several drugs charges and is being held at a federal facility in Sacramento, Calif.