Indonesia’s narcotics agency chief blames air crashes on doping pilots

Those indicated to be positive for drugs responsible for almost air accidents in the country: Budi Waseso

January 13, 2017 07:01 pm | Updated 07:44 pm IST - JAKARTA:

Budi Waseso (centre), Indonesia’s narcotics agency chief, has said pilots addicted to drugs are responsible for almost all aviation accidents in the country.

Budi Waseso (centre), Indonesia’s narcotics agency chief, has said pilots addicted to drugs are responsible for almost all aviation accidents in the country.

The head of Indonesia’s agency tasked with clamping down on narcotics crimes says most of the country’s airline accidents have involved pilots on drugs, including a Lion Air jet that slammed into the sea four years ago while trying to land on Bali.

Budi Waseso made the comments on Thursday at a ceremony inaugurating Bali’s traditional village security guards as anti-drug volunteers.

The hallucination

“Almost all air accidents in Indonesia, whether it was just a skid or whatever, the pilots are indicated to be positive for drugs,” he told reporters.

He said the Lion Air pilot had hallucinated that the sea was the runway.

The comments come after a video circulated online last month showing an apparently intoxicated pilot in the cockpit of a passenger plane. News reports this week said two other pilots recently tested positive for drugs.

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