A plane flying from Germany to Cuba was diverted to the Halifax airport Sunday evening after three intoxicated passengers allegedly caused a disturbance during the flight.
RCMP and Canada Border Services Agency officers boarded the plane when it landed at Halifax Stanfield International Airport and arrested three German men, including a father and son.
The men were arraigned in Dartmouth provincial court Monday on two charges under Canada’s Aeronautics Act of engaging in behaviour that endangered the safety or security of an aircraft in flight.
Ingo Georg Hieronymus, 53, Alexandros Moustakas, 47, and Niko Moustakas, 26, sat shoulder to shoulder on a prisoner bench while the judge read out the charges against them.
An interpreter translated the proceedings into German for the trio.
Prosecutor Christian Girouard said the Crown was opposed to the men’s release and was exercising its right to have until Wednesday to prepare for a bail hearing.
Judge Dan MacRury granted the Crown’s request and remanded the men to the Dartmouth jail for two nights.
The Crown has yet to elect whether to proceed on the charges summarily or by indictment.
A conviction for a summary offence would carry a maximum penalty of a $25,000 fine and 18 months in jail, while an indictable offence would have a maximum punishment of a $100,000 fine and five years in prison.
In December 2013, an Air Canada flight from London, England, to Toronto made an unscheduled landing in Halifax because of unruly behaviour by a South African woman.
Nomantangwa Angel Babhekile Johansson, 30, of Johannesburg pleaded guilty in Dartmouth court to endangering the safety of an aircraft in flight and a Criminal Code charge of public mischief. The judge accepted a joint recommendation for a $5,000 fine and ordered her to make restitution of $9,464 to the airline for the cost of detouring the flight.
