BELIZE CITY, Wed. Dec. 22, 2021– Yesterday, Jesus Alberto Quintero Martinez, 27, who is believed to have been a co-pilot on the Cessna Centurion drug plane that crash-landed in the Hidden Valley area of Mountain Pine Ridge in late November, was remanded to the Belize Central Prison after being arraigned before Magistrate Khiana Gordon, who, with the assistance of a Spanish translator, explained to Martinez the nature of the charges against him. Martinez, who sustained several bone fractures as a result of the crash-landing (a broken hip and right leg) had been hospitalized for a week after being found in the Mountain Pine Ridge area. He has since received surgery for his injuries and today, still unable to walk, was carried by police officers into the court.
The 27-year-old Mexican, believed to have ties to the Sinaloa cartel, was charged for importing drugs into the country and landing the plane without the necessary permits from the Ministry of Civil Aviation. He now joins six other men who were remanded earlier this month in connection with the landing of the plane — Jaime Maaz, Miguel Zetina, Edwin Gonzalez, Edilberto Medrano, Saulus Penner (a Mennonite farmer of Spanish Lookout) and police corporal Eric Young.
No bail was offered to Martinez, who is naturally considered a flight risk. He was represented by attorney Oscar Selgado and is expected to reappear in court on February 22, 2022.
One man, the brother of Saulus Penner, who is believed to have played a major role in this failed operation, is still at large at this time.
Following the crash-landing of the plane on November 28, teams from the Police Department had blocked off the entrance and exit routes of the Mountain Pine Ridge area, and thus detained the men who are currently on remand when they were attempting to exit the area a few hours later after what they claimed was a hunting expedition. The officers had also been able to disrupt the operations of the narcos who were attempting to offload the drugs from the plane that had crash-landed. That crash-landing reportedly resulted from a miscalculation on the part of the pilots, whose vision was apparently impeded by fog in the area. Reports are that the pilots had been attempting to land the plane on a private airstrip, whose watchmen had reportedly been forced by the narcos to allow that landing. As just mentioned, however, due to heavy fog in the area at the time, the aircraft missed the runway and crash-landed.
A total of 579 kilos of cocaine were found two days later, on November 30 — a day after police officers found the badly injured Martinez.