“Without exaggeration, I can really say it was hell,” pilot Robert Di Venanzo told CTV News Toronto by phone Thursday.  “We have no idea when we’ll get home.”
On April 5, Di Venanzo and his crew found more than 200 kilograms of cocaine on a plane that was about to fly to Toronto.  While they were landing at the Punta Cana airport, they reported the drugs, according to Pivot Airlines. 
Instead of returning to Canada as planned, five crew members, along with six passengers, were arrested and detained.
The crew were released on bail later in April, but on the condition that they remain in the Dominican Republic.  Since then, Di Venanzo says the crew and passengers have been effectively under house arrest with security monitoring them 24 hours a day.
As difficult as the past four months have been for the team, Di Venanzo says the pain has been “immeasurable” for his wife and two children back home in Guelph, Ont.
The constant threat of persecution looms over them, he says.  At their last hearing on July 21, the Dominican prosecutor tried to revoke bail and send them back to prison.  While the hearing was adjourned because there was no English translator, at the next hearing on August 26, he expects another attempt to send them back to prison.
“If they revoke our bail, they’ll put us back in the same cells we were in for nine days. We really believe that if we end up going back into custody, we’re not going to get out alive.”  Di Venanzo said.
But until the next hearing, he says it’s a waiting game.
Pivot Airlines CEO Eric Edmondson said the airline has no reason to believe Dominican courts will be fair or just when considering whether to return the crew to the “unsafe and inhumane” prison.
“For almost 120 days they have been arbitrarily detained without charges or evidence against them.  They’re missing their families, missing their lives, and they’ve continued to receive explicit threats against their lives,” Edmondson said.
“Now is the time for the Canadian government to take our crew home.”
In a statement to CTV News Toronto, Global Affairs Canada said the safety and security of these Canadian citizens is their top priority.
“Canadian officials continue to monitor the situation closely, are working with local authorities and are providing consular assistance,” a spokesman said.
However, Global Affairs did not indicate a date or timeline for when the crew and passengers could expect to return home.
“Our lives are in danger here for something we didn’t do,” Di Venanzo said.  “I really think our government needs to step up and get us out of here.”