Did the IG uncover the drug connection?

Why

Not just prisoners:

The flights may also have been used for smuggling.

one

(To read the rest, click "Permalink" below)

The crashed coke jet.

after 2005

The captured Skyway coke jet.

Argyll previously arranged for a $17 million loan to a Mexican businessman, who in turn provided "significant capital" to a

“Chilean narcotics trafficker" named Manuel Vicente Losada, arrested in the Chilean capital of Santiago after being “linked to a shipment of five tons of cocaine which U.S. drug enforcement officials in Miami intercepted over six years ago on the vessel Harbour, as it headed toward Guantanamo Bay.” "Guantanamo Bay"? asks Hopsicker. The implications hang in the air.



Hopsicker lists a few other indicators that Argyll may have a shady history. No less a figure than Patrick Fitzgerald investigated allegations that Argyll played a role in a scheme to defraud a hedge fund administered by the mother of actor Vince Vaughn.

That

cocaine headed toward Gitmo

military

Evergreen

accidentally

just

Based on the above, I posit -- but cannot prove -- that Inspector General John Helgerson has been looking into the links between "renditions" and smuggling.

after

Never before has a CIA Director investigated an Inspector General. Why now?

(Note: I've substantially rewritten this piece since original publication.)

The most recent incident involved a Gulfstream II that went down mysteriously in Mexico, after the pilot and passengers had bailed out. Authorities found over three tons of cocaine on board. (See here and here .)In the 2003-2005 period, that same aircraft was under the control of -- though not technically owned by -- the CIA-linked firm Richmor aviation. During that time, the jet made a series of "rendition" flights.Just before the recent coke transport flight, the plane was transferred from one mysterious "owner" to another at a dizzying clip. (This is common. When attempting to track the history of CIA aircraft, one should expect to encounter confusing ownership flips and an endless number of on-paper front companies.)I would ask readers to note the chronology. Richmor's routine use of the jet for "prisoner" flights stopped-- when IG John Helgerson started to look into renditions.This blog has devoted quite a few posts to last year's remarkable capture, on a Mexican tarmac, of a jet laden with five tons of coke. ( Here and here and here , and that's for starters.) Although the plane was surrounded by police, the pilot somehow "got away."(Compare his fate to that of the Gulfstream II pilot: He bailed, was captured, and then tried to bribe his way out of custody. I don't know if the bribe worked; no further news reports have mentioned him.)The Skyway jet was owned by a noted con artist who, in exchange for protection, allowed "his" plane to be used for various nefarious activities. Although this aircraft underwent the usual rapid ownership transfers just before the bust in Mexico, it still bore the Skyway logo, which strongly resembles the Homeland Security logo.Skyway was a fake firm associated with In-Q-Tel , a shadowy investment group begun by CIA personnel. Although Skyway head Brent Kovar was a notorious scamster, he has never faced a judge, and his aviation undertaking somehow attracted investment from two very real corporations: The defense giant Titan and Argyll Equities of Boerne, Texas. According to investigator Daniel Hopsicker,, I fear, is a tale for another time. Right now, let us stay focused on the eye-popping allegation thatIs Guantanamo being used as a drug transshipment point?Consider: The recently-crashed Gulfstream II made a number of trips to Gitmo. Why? To transport prisoners? No: News accounts have made clear that the prisoners there were brought in viacraft.. Evergreen airlines is the most famous CIA-linked aviation company; indeed, it is difficult to say where Evergreen stops and the Agency begins. Oddly enough, Evergreen had employed Russell DeFreitas, who was arrested last June for an alleged attempt to blow up JFK airport.In an earlier post , I argued that DeFreitas was involved with a drug ring while he worked at JFK airport. News accounts link him with the Triniad-based nationalist organization Jamaat Al Muslimeen, which controls much of the organized crime in that part of the world.Do you believe that Evergreen -- which is to say, the CIA -- wouldhire a man connected to a criminal syndicate?Evergreen is a major player in the "rendition" scandal. Evergreen aircraft were used to transport "prisoners."And perhaps notprisoners. The pattern is difficult to explain away: In each of the three episodes listed above, the scenarios changed after 2005 --the IG began to investigate renditions. After 2005, the Gulfstream II underwent a series of weird and hard-to-follow ownership transfers. So did the Skyway jet. DeFreitas left Evergreen to work as a "baggage handler" at JFK (where Evergreen has a presence) -- an interesting gig for someone associated with drug thugs and spooks.