FILE - In this Oct.27, 2015 file photo, French pilot Pascal Jean Fauret answers media during a press conference, in Paris. The two French pilots, Pascal Fauret and Bruno Odos, who escaped the Dominican Republic to avoid 20-year prison terms for cocaine trafficking have been arrested at their homes before being taken to a judge. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus, File) (The Associated Press)
PARIS – Two French pilots who escaped the Dominican Republic to avoid 20-year prison terms for cocaine trafficking have been arrested at their homes before being taken to a judge.
Pascal Fauret and Bruno Odos fled the Dominican Republic Oct. 27 despite a court order to remain in the country pending appeal. They have denied wrongdoing, saying they did not know the private plane they had been hired to fly carried 26 suitcases of cocaine.
Eric Dupond-Moretti, lawyer for Fauret, criticized how the arrests Monday were handled.
Another twist emerged Monday when a lawyer for former Nicolas Sarkozy demanded clarification about reports that the judge in the French drug investigation requested the ex-president's cell phone data. Sarkozy, who is not linked to the trafficking, flew with the private charter company in 2013.
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