you know...this would kinda suck.....

[plthijinx]

ok so not all are pilots here...but how would you feel if someone came along to your job and asked you of your services only to wind up being detained by a government? here

A Houston diamond dealer with a sketchy past is one of four businessmen being held in the Democratic Republic of Congo after being stopped shortly after arriving on a private jet with more than $6 million in cash that apparently they were to exchange for gold under the protection of a general indicted for war crimes.

Edward Carlos St. Mary, a former standout quarterback at MacArthur High School and cadet at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, is being detained in Goma, a city of 500,000 near the border with Rwanda, along with two Nigerians and a French citizen. The U.S. State Department confirmed the men are being held along with the flight crew that brought them on a chartered Gulfstream. At least one crew member, Kelly Shannon, also is from Houston. The group was detained Feb. 3, reportedly after a car chase. The businessmen are being held under close guard, and the flight crew is under house arrest at a hotel. The cash was seized by the government and the plane, owned by Dallas-based Southlake Aviation and apparently leased for the trip, was impounded.

then this too:

Pat Shannon wants it understood that his wife was not involved in any scheme and hopes the Congolese government will soon release her and her three fellow crew members, who include two American pilots and another flight attendant. For the time being, they are confined to the Ihusi hotel in Goma where he said they have been treated reasonably well and allowed to communicate with relatives.
"She has her cell phone and computer so far, so I can talk to her and communicate with her," said her husband, who has been in constant communication with his wife from his Heights home. "But they monitor how much communication goes out."
Though she has Internet access and is provided meals, Shannon and crew mates are troubled by the uncertainty of their future, he said.
"She's not fearing for her life or anything like that, but she's concerned. There's a great unknown," Pat Shannon said. "Are they going to be responsible for it because they were just doing their jobs as crew members, in her case, serving food and drinks to the passengers?"
U.S. State Department representatives have arrived in the country to negotiate their release, Shannon told her husband through text message, but a resolution has yet to be reached as they creep into their third week of captivity. A State Department official in Washington was far more vague Thursday when speaking to the Chronicle.
"We're aware that a U.S.-licensed plane is being held by authorities in Goma, and we can confirm that there were five U.S. citizens on the plane who are being detained," said the official, who asked not be identified because she didn't have permission to be quoted. "At this time we're not aware of any formal charges."

i cannot imagine being hired to fly someone somewhere and being detained for my passengers fuck ups. really? i mean knowingly transporting drugs is one thing but to not know what your fare is carrying? and by the way no, you don;t have to show me your luggage.

the main guy here has allegedly a faulty past, albeit ya never know, but according to state and local records he:

Court records show default judgments against him totaling more than $1.5 million and an agreed order to repay $700,000 more. Attorneys for investors said they have not been able to locate any assets and that St. Mary has repaid none of the amount agreed to in any settlements. Meanwhile, he lives in a home registered in his wife's name and valued at approximately $1.6 million in The Woodlands.

now the woodlands is a real nice part of town. so is kingwood around the corner. but my point here is this....you get in trouble for something you did not do. actually you were doing your job. and only your job. now you are being detained because your passenger fucked up?? nah. bullcrap.

[TheMercenary]

I agree.... but you know this in Africa. Different set of rules.

[ZenGum]

Dear Sir/Madam,
I am writing to you in regardings of a business proposition. My Uncle is a General who having large amont of gold, which is very valuable. At currently prices it is worth $9,562,334.56. However, because of political situation in our Country, we are unable to .....

[plthijinx]

Originally Posted by TheMercenary

I agree.... but you know this in Africa. Different set of rules.

very true.

lol zen!

[Kaliayev]

On the other hand, "diamonds" and "central African state suffering a civil war" doesn't exactly smell like legitimate business to me.

In fact, any deal involving Goma, that fucking hellhole, would be a big red flag. Hutu genocidaires, Africa's answer to the Einsatzgruppen, used to run that town, before the Rwandan military and Laurent Nkunda (who is almost as bad) ran them out. The FDLR still stomp around the countryside there, raping and slaughtering villagers and kidnapping foreign workers, while General Ntaganda's men seem to have a free run of the countryside immediately outside of Goma and are using the town itself oversee a huge mineral smuggling operation.

These are not the kind of people you want to be near or involved with, in any capacity.

If you don't do research before taking the job, you probably deserve to get burned a little.

[Pico and ME]

I agree.