When you say "Chief Pilot", I think you're referring to the captain, right? The Chief Pilot would be the one at Pivot Air that oversees all the pilots. Normally, only one pilot would be watching the cargo being loaded - usually the first officer. Until the baggage is brought out and loaded onboard, there's no way either pilot could know anything. It sounds like the F/O checked the bags, discovered drugs, notified the captain, and the captain notified the authorities. I don't see how, at this point, you can say the pilots aided and abetted the crime(?).
Yes. When I say chief pilot I’m referring to the one in charge of the aircraft. The Senior pilot is the term I use to refer to the management pilot in charge of certification and training of all the pilots on staff.
The law in most countries dictates that anyone involved in the commission of a crime has potentially aided and abetted the crime until proven innocent. Reporting that the drugs were on board is part of their proof on innocence but it doesn’t clear them of all of their legal responsibilities. If any of the pilots knew what was on board, reporting it may have been a desperate action to protect themselves once they knew the police were alerted or tipped off. The legal precept that ignorance is not a defence also applies here. Probably more so in drug related crimes of this magnitude.
As I posted, their best hope is testimony from the mules exonerating them from involvement in the shipment and the testimony is accepted by the enforcement officers and the courts, if it goes to court.
This is a big drug shipment operation gone bad. There are many irregularities we will never know about. The mules may turn on the pilots. As you previously posted, other staff inside the airport were probably involved. There are too many variables at this point to say the pilots are totally innocent.
What happens to the pilots depends on how far the enforcement officers research the entire operation. I hope the drug enforcement officers are much better trained in forensic research than the average police officer on the street in the DR. Otherwise it may be easier for them to use the pilots as sacrificial lambs to send a message to all charter airlines and drug runners. That would be the worst case scenario.
Realistically, being innocent in the DR doesn’t guarantee your innocence in court. Money buys you your freedom. That was proven when the MLB player accident shot and killed the young boy and paid the family approximately $500,000 US to get out of jail. I still think the aircraft will be released first and the pilots ( guilty or innocent) will go free eventually if enough money changes hands. The mules, I imagine, will stay behind bars unless the spill their guts and cut a deal for a shorter prison stay.
It’s a legal rat’s nest anyway you look at it. If the pilots spend a lengthy time in jail, their chances of going free will lessen with each day.