Customs Find Nearly 300kg Of Cannabis On High-Flying Plane Belonging To A Church

Customs officials in Brazil have found nearly 300 kilogrammes of cannabis on a plane belonging to a church.

The drugs, seen being offloaded from the aircraft in police footage, were found on the plane in a private hangar at Belem airport in the northern Brazilian state of Para on Saturday, 27th May.

The Igreja Quadrangular (Foursquare Church), originally founded in California, confirmed to local media that it owns the aircraft.

But it also reportedly claimed that a third party accessed the plane without permission, adding that it did not know where the drugs came from.

The federal police raided the hangar and arrested one man who was seen on the tarmac and who attempted to flee federal agents.

The suspect, who has not been named, was arrested on suspicion of drug trafficking.

The police said they found 290 kilogrammes (639lbs) of skunk, which is a type of concentrated cannabis, on the plane, stashed inside cardboard boxes marked as eggs.

The Foursqure Church told local media that the arrested man was an outsourced service provider who was supposed to clean the aircraft the day before the raid.

The church reportedly said in a statement that the man "looked for our pilot wanting to make a flight to take, according to him, some tractor parts to an inland city."

The church alleges that the man accessed the aircraft on Friday night, on 26th May, and "placed the cargo" inside it.

The church told local media that it did not know where the drugs came from and was only made aware of them after the police raid on the plane, which was set to fly to Petrolina.

Federal Police said in a statement obtained by Newsflash on Saturday, 27th May: "The suspect was charged with interstate drug trafficking.

"The pilot was not arrested, as his participation in the crime was not verified.

"The aircraft was seized, as well as the mobile phone of the suspect."

Paulo Bengtson, a member of the national and state board of the Foursquare Church, told local media that the plane had been used for three years to transport pastors and sick people around the state of Para.

Bengtson said: "It is the first time that something like this has happened. We await the conclusion of this investigation, and are confident that all those involved will be punished."

The investigation is ongoing.