_{Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police}

by Charles Gladden

BELIZE CITY, Mon. Mar. 3, 2025

Amandala has confirmed that a drug plane made landfall on Belizean soil in the early hours of Monday, March 3, in the southern part of the country.

Reports are indicating that sometime after 11:00 p.m. on Sunday, Belizean authorities were informed of a suspicious aircraft that had departed South America and was heading toward Belize.

The Joint Intelligence Operations Center (JIOC) team, which consists of members of the Police Department and the Belize Defence Force (BDF), was deployed after 2:00 a.m. shortly before the aircraft was expected to enter Belizean territory.

Soon after the plane appeared, it disappeared on a tracker, approximately two miles away from the Belize-Guatemala border in the Toledo District, in an off-road location.

“The BDF did a flyover with the aircraft, and we also sent in a JIOC team comprising of police and BDF to the location; and a few minutes ago, they were able to locate the plane in Belizean territory, just as was indicated to us, near the Guatemalan border,” said Commissioner of Police, Chester Williams.

He further mentioned, “So, it’s a small jet … destroyed by fire. No cargo was found on the plane. From all indications, from the team on the ground, [it] is that the plane landed well, was not damaged during landing; but after landing, it was pulled on the side and burnt.”

The aircraft landed between 3:00 and 4:00 a.m.