Plane Near Florida Nuke Plant Carried Drugs CRYSTAL RIVER, Fla. (Reuters) - A small plane forced down by U.S. Air Force jets near a Florida nuclear plant was carrying drugs, police said on Thursday.
The single-engine Piper Arrow took off on Tuesday afternoon from Melbourne, on the east coast of Florida, for a flight to Louisiana, Citrus County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Ronda Evan said.
After the plane went off course, the Federal Aviation Administration, on high alert following the Sept. 11 attacks, notified the Air Force, which sent two F-16 jets to intercept it and force it to land in Crystal River, about 70 miles north of Tampa.
Crystal River is the site of a nuclear power plant operated by Florida Power Corp., a unit of Progress Energy . Security at U.S. nuclear plants has been increased since the Sept. 11 hijacking assaults on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
The Air Force notified the Citrus County Sheriff's Office and deputies met the plane when it landed, Evan said.
``They found 65 pounds of marijuana,'' Evan said, worth an estimated $65,000. The pilot and a passenger, both from Melbourne, were arrested.
TRY to be SOBER! The real war on drugs has begun. Illegal drug users had been often financing terrorists with the money for their high! Those days are coming to an end.
PS: COWARDS are the ones who use illegal drugs (ADDICT WARRIORS). They can't handle life in a natural state. BOO HOO
Cowards are those who---like you---make claims, flee from challenges, then make the same claims elsewhere.
Why is using illegal drugs any more "cowardly" than using a deadly addictive legal drug like alcohol? (By the way, I don't use alcohol or illegal drugs.)