Anti-Narcotic Chief Claims “Most” Plane Crashes Caused by Pilots on Drugs

In public comments, the head of Indonesia’s anti-narcotics agency blamed the recent rash of air disasters on pilots who “tested positive for drugs.”

Indonesia’s beleaguered airline industry is facing a fresh challenge after the head of the country’s anti-narcotics bureau blamed a troubling aviation safety record on drug use in the cockpit. National Narcotics Agency (BNN) Chief Budi Waseso used a swearing-in ceremony attended by the governor of Bali to make his explosive accusations.

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

The controversial law enforcement and political figure earlier told attendees of the event that the pilot of the Lion Air flight that famously crashed into the ocean in 2013 had “hallucinated” that the sea was a continuation of the runway. Waseso also cited the case of a Citilink pilot who apparently stumbled drunk through an airport security checkpoint, before making a slurred pre-flight announcement from the flight deck and eventually fighting with other crew members who alerted authorities to his condition.

Waseso’s assertions directly contradict crash investigators who say that the pilots in the 2013 Lion Air crash passed drug tests administered immediately following the accident. Transport Ministry officials report there is in fact no evidence indicating drug use as a contributing factor in any recent official accident investigations.

This isn’t the first time that the outspoken Waseso has made somewhat outlandish public comments. This fall, he praised the notoriously anti-drug President of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, who is routinely accused of human rights violations because of the extra-judicial murder of a growing number of accused drug users and low-level dealers. Waseso even suggested to BBC News that he would like to see Indonesia mirror Duterte’s grim policies.

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