The suspected drug trade executive jet is reportedly valued at US$6 million

BELIZE CITY, Mon. Sept. 30, 2019– In the early hours of this morning, an executive jet crashed-landed on a stretch of road in Blue Creek, a short distance away from the Mexican border with Belize. The impact of the crash landing broke the plane in half, but by the time police arrived on the scene, there was nothing or no one in the area.

At a police press briefing today at police headquarters in Belmopan, Commissioner of Police Chester Williams admitted that the police had intelligence about the plane, but had deployed to an area which was about 15 minutes away from where the plane actually landed.

Additionally, police were tight-lipped about the advance intelligence that they received. For example, police did not reveal from where the plane originated.

Last month, police received intelligence which assisted them in capturing a drug plane with all of its cargo, and eight foreign nationals were arrested and charged in connection with the landing of that plane, which had originated from Venezuela.

The persons charged are all on remand at the Belize Central Prison awaiting trial. Authorities removed 1,314 kilos of cocaine that is said to have a value of around 60 million US dollars.

When police made it to the white Gulf Stream G2 jet, it was empty, although all of its seats were intact, which suggests that the plane may not have been transporting drugs. What was the jet transporting? The plane was examined for traces of drugs, but the results of those tests are not known as yet.

 Commissioner Williams told the media that the security forces encountered some obstacles such as fallen trees and what looked like rolled-up barbed wire on the road leading to where the plane was. Williams, however, did not elaborate on the obstacles.

Since no drugs were found, law enforcement officers have advanced the theory that the jet may have been transporting drug traffickers, who escaped after the plane crash-landed. It is strange, however, because a crash of such a magnitude that would split a plane in two would surely have left some evidence, such as blood, for investigators to find, even if dead passengers had been removed.

Commissioner Williams told the media that he will wait to see if any residue of drugs was found through the tests that were done on the plane.

Today, the Leader of the Opposition, Hon. John Briceño, told the media that the government is not taking the matter of these drug planes landing as seriously as the situation merits.

Briceño told the media that in today’s world, there are radars that can still track a plane even if the transponders are turned off. Regular radars are not able to track a plane if its transponders are turned off, Briceño explained, but the radar that could track a plane with its transponders off costs around US$2 million, which the government should be able to afford if they were serious about stopping the drug planes.

Briceño suggested that “we can talk to our friends, the Americans, to help us get access to a radar that would help us to track these planes way before they come into our airspace.”  “Once they come into our airspace, we can alert the police to where they are going”, he explained.

Briceño is of the view that we do not have the political will to address the problem.