FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, June 25, 1998
Contact: Jeff Nelligan
Telephone: (202) 366-6312
OIG 20-98
One Man Sentenced, Another Charged
In Dangerous Baggage Cases
The U.S. Department of Transportation's Office of Inspector General today announced that a fine of $3,000 was levied against one defendant Tuesday, June 23, 1998, while charges were filed against another Friday, June 19, 1998, in two cases involving flammable objects in passenger baggage at Miami International Airport.
Vasyl Styazhkin, a Ukrainian, and Leo Guy Cauvin, a French citizen residing in Germany, each had undeclared incendiary flares in personal luggage. Both were charged on June 19; on June 23, Cauvin pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court and was sentenced to time served and a fine of $3,000. Like Styazhkin, Cauvin faced possible imprisonment of up to five years and a fine of up to $250,000.
Authorities consider these incidents unrelated.
Styazhkin arrived on an American Airlines flight from Panama on May 13, 1998, with his baggage checked through to Frankfurt, Germany on a Lufthansa flight scheduled to leave the following day. But Styazhkin departed the same day he arrived in Miami, leaving his baggage behind. U.S. Customs Service inspectors discovered 11 parachute flares -- incendiary signaling devices -- concealed inside a computer housing in the checked baggage.
Cauvin checked luggage at Miami International Airport on June 3 with U.S. Airways for a flight to Philadelphia, connecting through to Frankfurt, Germany. While baggage was being transferred from the passenger check-in area to be loaded aboard the aircraft, ramp personnel noticed smoke coming from piece of Cauvin's luggage and moved it to an open area. When the bag was opened, it was found to contain several signal flares, some loaded into a device used to fire the flares. OIG agents arrested Cauvin.
Federal regulations bar passengers from carrying signal flares on board an aircraft. The regulations strictly control interstate and foreign shipment of hazardous materials, including their movement by air. Labeling, packaging and quantities of such materials are closely controlled to minimize hazards.
Signal flares are classified as incendiaries and pyrotechnics in federal regulations. They can be deemed destructive devices, depending on their size and type. They generate intense heat when they burn and can endanger the safety of an aircraft and its passengers.
The investigation was conducted by special agents of the department’s Office of Inspector General with the assistance of dangerous goods security specialists from the Federal Aviation Administration. Also participating in the investigation were the U.S. Customs Service and the FBI.
###