A Gulfstream II jet, aircraft # N987SA, allegedly used to transport Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) rendition prisoners from Europe and America to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba crash-landed Sept. 24, 2007 in Mexico carrying a cargo of over four tons of cocaine. It is suspected the Gulfstream jet ran out of fuel as it traveled from Colombia to the United States.
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Federal Aviation Association records list the plane in question as belonging to Atef Hanna of Tarpon Springs Florida, but at the time of the incident, it was registered to Donna Blue Aircraft, Inc. of Coconut Creek, Florida. According to an article in The Tampa Tribune, Donna Blue Aircraft, Inc.
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was a front for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). ICE claims it sold the aircraft to Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA)-suspected drug smugglers as part of an undercover operation immediately prior to the crash in Mexico.
The ICE undercover agent who brokered the deal, former racecar driver Don Whittington, pled guilty to federal tax charges in 1987.
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According to an affidavit accidentally unsealed then subsequently resealed, Whittington is currently under investigation for using a Colorado Springs resort and spa to launder profits from the sale of this and other aircraft used in smuggling busts. -anonhq
