Air Astana pilot fired for marijuana use

The Kazakh Air Astana company has dismissed a pilot who got caught with a bag of marijuana in his coat, the press service of the company said.

The captain Roman Bykov was detained at the airport after arrival from Moscow, when he drew the attention of a sniffer dog. A test showed traces of the same drug in his body. Bykov admitted he had smoked marijuana on the eve of the flight and had used it for the last three years. 

"Air Astana has a zero tolerance policy for drugs and alcohol. The airline regularly tests its crews for alcohol and drugs using a random sampling method. Roman Bykov was fired immediately," the press service of the company said.