Airport worker stripped of security clearance
Another Vancouver airport employee has been stripped of their security clearance — and lost their job — over an organized crime scare, this time after an Air Canada staffer was found in the United States carrying almost 12 kilograms of marijuana and more than $ 353,000 in bulk currency near the Canadian border.
David Sargeant, 50, was an airline ground employee for almost 30 years, working as a station attendant at Vancouver International Airport, mainly doing baggage handling, towing aircraft and providing service for passengers with disabilities.
His job requires him to maintain a Transportation Security Clearance allowing access to restricted areas of the airport, which he was granted every five years.
In 2009, Transport Canada was alerted to an incident in 2003 involving Sargeant by an undisclosed agency, but was told the information could not be shared, so it quietly sat there until last year when it “became actionable.”
An RCMP report was sent to Transport Canada saying Sargeant had been arrested in 2003 by Bellingham police and U. S. Homeland Security in Blaine, Wash., with 11.8 kilograms of marijuana and $353,430 in bulk United States currency.
“During an interview (he) stated that he knew he was smuggling marijuana and was to be paid $200 to complete the job. During the interview, the other individual also admitted to knowingly smuggling the marijuana and currency and stated that he had hired the applicant for $200 to assist him with the smuggling,” the RCMP report says.
“Due to the sensitive nature of the investigation and unforeseen circumstances, neither of the individuals were charged for the possession of the marijuana or the bulk currency.”
He said he was asked by Lore Antonio Echelli to cross the border and meet with someone in Seattle to pick up proceeds from a boat sale, his lawyer’s letter says, a copy of which was entered into Federal Court during a recent hearing.
“Once at the pickup point (Sargeant) recalled meeting with a gentleman, whose name he does not recall either, in a parking lot of an apartment building; there, (Sargeant) was handed down a box and a duffel bag which he did not open as he never suspected that anything illegal was going on,” his lawyer wrote.
Sargeant then went to Bellis Fair Mall in Bellingham, Wash., to meet with Echelli, where they were both arrested at gunpoint, he said.
“Officers assured ( Sargeant) that he would not be charged or detained further or have any difficulty travelling back to the United States, only if he co-operated with them by providing a statement,” his lawyer’s letter says.
Transport Canada withdrew Sargeant’s security clearance, saying: “The quantity of drugs and money involved and their possible transportation across an international border leads ( us) to believe that these criminal activities might be related to organized crime.
Sargeant appealed the decision to the Federal Court of Canada.
Justice René LeBlanc rejected his appeal on Wednesday, saying the decision was reasonable and procedurally fair.