AIRPLANE SNIFFS:
A) United States v Dickerson (873 F. 2d 1181 (1988) Ninth Circuit
In a civil forfeiture action, the court ruled there was not probable cause to seize an airplane, due to:
• even though narcotics detection dog alerted to a section of carpet in the airplane, there was a six-day period between the initial seizure and the dog search.
• during this six-day period, officials did not know who had been in the plane. The government failed to take adequate precautions to secure the plane from the time it was seized and the time it was searched.
B) United States v Mondello (927 F. 2d 1463 (1991) Ninth Circuit
Customs officers who detained defendant had reasonable suspicion justifying initial boarding of private plane based upon:
• defendant had been chartering flights paying cash each time;
• flights were one way to known drug haven;
• flights occurred late at night;
• defendant booked flights on the day he was to leave;
• defendant said he was a musician but never carried an instrument on the plane;
• trained police dog had previously alerted to money the defendant had given to the pilot.
Defendant’s 30-minute detention did not amount to arrest, agents worked as quickly as possible to apply sniff test to luggage.
After positive sniff test of defendant ’s luggage was completed, probable cause existed for agents to detain defendant and his luggage for an additional 90 minutes.