Authorities have found 10 kilograms of drugs onboard a GetJet plane in Vilnius Airport (VNO), Lithuania.
The illegal load was found on a plane arriving from Burgas Airport (BOJ), Bulgaria during an inspection on August 31, 2021. On that day, Lithuanian charter carrier GetJet Airlines operated the flight GJT36BG from BOJ to VNO using an Airbus A320, registered as LY-OWL, data from flight tracking service Radabox.com shows.
Six packets that together weighed around 10 kilograms were found in the cargo hold, behind a panel, according to a statement released by the Lithuanian Customs Authority on September 2, 2021.
The packages were first inspected by Lithuanian Police Anti-terrorist Operations Unit Aras with sniffer dogs to rule out explosives. A further inspection determined that the packages contained drugs, possibly hashish.
The drugs have been confiscated. Local authorities have opened a criminal investigation.
GetJet employees are cooperating with the authorities in ascertaining the origin of the illegal items and how they came to be onboard the aircraft, a spokesperson for the airline told AeroTime.
The spokesperson clarified that it was the company’s employees who found the packages and called the authorities.
After the load was removed, officers and the airline’s employees inspected the aircraft again to ensure no illegal items were left on the aircraft.
“GetJet Airlines follows international and national standards and recommendations. Safety is our number one priority,” the spokesperson told AeroTime in a written statement.
This article was updated on September 3, 2021, to include the clarification about who found the suspicious packages and the second inspection of the plane.