This bust happened a couple weeks ago here in PDX...and as most drugs come to this part of the country...they came from good 'ol BC ... Talk about a big stash...glad he was so dumb to pay for a plane load of gas with cash...Kids remember: Stupid people end up getting caught...don't be stupid!

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Tip leads to drug haul at PDX Pilot Paul David Carter is out on bail and back in Canada, and a U.S. grand jury will consider an indictment 10/30/03 MARK LARABEE Because most people pay with credit, the $600 cash a pilot paid in August raised the suspicions of an airport refueling attendant and eventually put a Canadian-registered airplane into a database that tracks potential drug runners. From Our Advertiser The twin-engine Piper Aerostar 601P landed in Portland on Oct. 8 after a flight from British Columbia. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers decided to do a secondary search after the plane's tail number popped up in the database as being involved in suspicious activity. The pilot, Paul David Carter, was arrested after a drug-sniffing dog found 100,000 Ecstasy tablets -- more than 42 pounds with a street value of $2.5 million -- in a cargo area. It's the largest seizure of the drug from a private aircraft nationally, according to the U.S. Customs agency. Carter, who owns Coast to Coast Charters, is charged in federal court with importing the popular club drug, a hallucinogen that has taken dozens of lives across the country, including two in Portland. Next week, a grand jury is scheduled to consider an indictment, and Carter could be required to enter a plea. If convicted, he could face more than 10 years in a federal prison. On Wednesday, the 32-year-old Canadian citizen was released into the custody of his in-laws in Canada after they put up $100,000 in cash. Despite some concerns, U.S. Magistrate Janice M. Stewart said Carter's father-in-law, Dale Culpepper, a former Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer who is now a prison guard, would be a good steward and would ensure Carter's court appearances. The prosecutor argued that Carter should remain behind bars. Court papers indicate that trace amounts of cocaine, heroin and amphetamines were found on board, and Carter is the sole owner and operator of the airplane. Richard Scruggs, an assistant U.S. attorney, said the government didn't have time to track the cash payout by Carter's family, and he doubted that Carter, once in Canada, would ever return given the potential penalty. "I think to an organization that has more than $2 million worth of drugs here, $100,000 is a small cost of doing business to have him released and not come down here to be put on trial," Scruggs said. But the judge said she was satisfied that the money did not come from illicit sources. According to an affidavit by Seung H. Sung, a special agent for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Carter told the officers that he'd flown from Penticton, B.C., to Portland to refuel on his way to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, where the airplane was scheduled to have some maintenance. Sung said the story didn't check out. No work was scheduled, and the mechanics had no record of ever servicing that airplane. Further, Sung stated that the flight from Penticton to Coeur d'Alene is only 178 miles, while the flight from Penticton to Coeur d'Alene through Portland is 661 miles. Customs officers might not have done a secondary check if it hadn't been for the database entry by Canadian police. They entered the tail number into the computer after an attendant at the Shell station at the Kelowna, B.C., airport called in the Aug. 6 cash payment. He also said he noticed the airplane was loaded with unmarked boxes.

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