Antonov-32 crashes - Inspectors not called in.

An Antonov 32 air freighter on lease to someone involved in some way with the US Gubment, loaded with heroin was involved in a crash landing in Lashkar Gah, Afgahnistan when a lorry drove across the landing strip and the plane smashed into some mud huts, killing some of the occupants. Military immediately sealed the site and survivors were quickly ferried away leaving the visiting UK Minister of Defence John Ried without a plane.(Whose daughter in law's husband is a notorious Glasgow gangster and drug dealer)Here is the news report.

LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan By Noor Khan AP, On April 23rd a U.S. government-leased 20 seater Antonov-32 twin engined transport plane carrying counternarcotics officials crashed into a southern Afghan nomad settlement while trying to avoid a truck on a runway during landing, killing two people aboard and a child on the ground, officials said.

At least 14 people on board were injured, including some Americans in a team from the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs. The bureau has been helping Afghan authorities conduct large-scale opium eradication campaigns across southern Afghanistan.

There were 16 aboard the plane 2 were killed , 1 on the ground and 3-year-old girl living in the nomad settlement, also died.Minutes after the crash, foreign troops cordoned off the crash site as ambulances took the injured out and one helicopter was also seen ferrying casualties to a Kandahar (75 miles East) military base for U.S.-led forces.

Another eight people on the plane suffered minor injuries and were flown by military helicopters to a coalition hospital in Kandahar, about 75 miles to the east.

Spokesmen Innis declined to specify the nationalities of the people on the plane, but the U.S. Embassy said several Americans had minor injuries. At least six other Afghan nomads living in the settlement were also injured, said Deputy Provincial Gov. Amir Mohammed Aghunzada.

U.S. Embassy spokesman Lou Fintor said the plane had left Kabul early Monday for Lashkar Gah, about 325 miles to the southwest. The plane stopped en route in Kandahar before setting off for Lashkar Gah, about 75 miles farther west.

Aghunzada said the plane struck nomad tents and mud brick homes near the airstrip about 11:30 a.m. “The aircraft was on final approach when a civilian truck drove across the runway,” Innis told the AP. “The pilot pulled up to avoid hitting the truck but was unable to gain sufficient speed to remain airborne.”

Who leased the plane to the US Government is unknown , but private American security firms operating in Afghanistan routinely provide such aircraft to authorities.

In November 2005 a Pakistani-owned plane carrying cargo for the U.S.-led coalition flew into mountains near Kabul, at least 8 people were killed.

On Feb. 3, 2005, a Kam Air domestic flight, Afghanistan’s only private airline, in bad weather crashed with 104 people aboard. (Intriguingly the company's plane was based like many of BOut's in Kyrgistan, alsothey have an Antonov 32 which skidded on the runway in SEptember 2005 at Kabul)

The Antonov AN-32 is essentially an upgraded AN-26 equipped with very powerful engines and refined power and engine systems. First revealed at the 1977 Paris salon, the AN-32 is a light tactical airlifter with superb STOL capabilities, ideal for use in hot and high areas. Although primarily in service with a number of air forces, a few serve with civil operators in the CIS, Africa, and Latin America. Nearly 400 have been built of which 75 are in commercial service.

Wayne Madsen speculates that Viktor Bout notorious for involvement in arms and drug smuggling in the CIS / Middle East / Africa who also flew for the Taliban before the U.S. invasion may be the lessor. Bout is also linked to Russian-Israeli-Ukrainian Mafia kingpins in the drug smuggling business. He also says the pilot and one crew member who died were Ukrainians.

See Yorkshire Ranter's authoritative guide to Victor Bout his company's and their strange methods of operation - even involving receiving petrol quite legally from the US Gubment.

For those who like puzzles, connect the man in the picture, Zapata, the family who owns the soccer team whose England star broke a bone in his foot on Saturday, Fettes College Edinburgh A Scottish Rugby Player who scored a famous try, Ivory Sime the Edinburgh finace house, an oil company with interests helped in the Indian sub-continent by the US Embassy , whose shares have soared from £3 to over £20, Best man at it's Chairman's wedding, a very stressed UK Prime Minister whose name appears on the plaque on the opening of the Edinburgh HQ of the very succesful oilco whose Chairman at whose wedding the man in the picture was best man.... oh and drug smuggling, Colombia, Afghanistan and a restaurant called Helmand in Chicago renowned for it's goat shashlik, owned by the brother of the President of a mountainous country adjacent to Pakistan whose other brother is said to control drugs in large sections of that mountainous country, the Taliban (who visited Texas) the CIA and Victor Bout.... oh and the crash detailed above. Clear ? Well here are some hints, 2 people helped a Californian oilco plan a pipeline when the Taliban were in charge and so was Clinton, one is now a Secretary of State and has a penchant for Ferragamo slippers and the other is ..surprise...surprise the US Ambassador in Iraq at the US Embassy in Bagdhad where Victor Bout's planes regularly turn up.

PS Try also to connect the dad of the guy in the picture with who had dinner with John Hinckleys dad (and where) the day before he tried to kill Ronnie and who killed JFK - by the way did you know that fat, swety, grubby little Scott McClellan's dad wrote a book about the JKF assassination claiming it was organised by LBJ ?