Earl Moona (R), part of a wannabe Taliban crew aboard a MaxAir flight

Earl Moona (R) standing in front of a MaxAir 747

By Caribbean News Now contributor

CASTRIES, St Lucia — Following our article on Monday concerning the reported connection between the ‘New face of crime in Nigeria’ Alhaji Dahiru Barau Mangal, the owner of Nigerian charter airline MaxAir, and the government of St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG), a reader informed us that a Saint Lucian pilot at one time flew 747s for the same airline in Nigeria.

The pilot in question, Earl Moona, after reportedly being let go by Southern Air and Amerijet in the United States for poor performance, apparently drifted to the Middle East and Africa, ending up, according to our source, “with the worst flying job any pilot would want”.

“Why MaxAir?” was the question posed to us.

The airline specialises in Hajj charter flights from Nigeria to Saudi Arabia and is reportedly the largest such carrier in Nigeria.

MaxAir typically employs Middle Eastern, South American and Asian pilots with poor flying skills, including one falsely certified captain that seriously damaged the 747-400 with an extremely hard landing.

Moona reportedly now operates a zip line at Treetop Adventure Park in Saint Lucia.

Earl Moona apparently now flies a zip line instead of a 747

Meanwhile, in SVG, our earlier story reportedly caused something of a stir, quickly becoming the topic of conversation on every radio station, in the bars, and in the streets, according to one source.

The chief immigration officer claimed that the Nigerian passport story is false because they have no record of Alhaji Dahiru Barau Mangal holding a Vincentian passport. However, there is no way to confirm or deny this assertion conclusively because a number of unissued Vincentian passports were allegedly destroyed in a fire without any record remaining of the numbers and whether any survived the blaze.

In a related development, our story also prompted a flurry of at least ten telephone calls between Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves and his son Camillo and a certain real estate agent in Central Florida who is a known (self-admitted) activist/surrogate on behalf of Gonsalves and the St Vincent government, frequently attempting to influence public opinion by means of propaganda posted on social media and other online publications.

Camillo Gonsalves (left), trying in vain to avoid ogling the barely covered bosom of the woman at right, greets a Venezuelan official (second left) as she arrives in St Vincent aboard a private Bombardier Learjet 45 said to be owned by the Chavez family

An inquiry has been sent to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as to whether the Florida resident in question, acting as an agent of the government of St Vincent and the Grenadines within the meaning of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) of 1938, as amended, 22 USC § 611 et seq, is duly registered as such agent as the law requires.

Any person who willfully violates any provisions of FARA shall, upon conviction, be punished by a fine of not more than $10,000 or by imprisonment for not more than five years.

Apparently not wishing to make this known, his online professional biography conspicuously omits any mention of his SVG origin, merely stating that he is “from the southern West Indies.”