This plane makes the 8th drug plane to have landed in Belize for the year

BELIZE CITY, Thurs. Oct. 25, 2018– Last month a drug plane landed in the Orange Walk District and two police officers, a Belizean resident of Blue Creek (where the plane landed) and two Mexican nationals, were all arrested and charged in connection with its landing. Authorities said that they had been tracking that plane from when it left Venezuela.

There had been no tracking, however, of a twin-engine suspected drug plane which landed in Progresso, Corozal District, in the early hours of this morning. By the time police made their way to the illegal landing site, 3 miles northeast of Progresso on the Copper Bank road, all that they were able to find were the smoldering remains of the plane. There were no drugs to be found, and there was no one in the area.

Assistant Commissioner of Police, Joseph Myvett, confirmed at a police press briefing this morning that at about 4:30 a.m. police found the twin-engine plane ablaze.

“Police investigators are currently in the area conducting investigations as well as conducting searches in the entire vicinity,” ACP Myvett told the media this morning.

ACP Myvett, in answer to reporters’ questions, confirmed that there is a police station nearby in Progresso.

Belize authorities so far have not been able to determine the origin of the airplane. Despite the plane’s having been set on fire, forensic examination may be able to assist police in identifying the aircraft.

Since the beginning of this year, suspected drug planes have been landing in Belize with alarming frequency, almost with impunity. The plane that landed this morning makes the eighth plane believed to be connected to the illicit drug trade, which has landed in Belize since the start of this year.

 In April a twin-engine executive jet landed on the San Estevan/Progresso road in the Orange Walk District. By the time authorities reached it, however, the cargo had already been offloaded, and no one has been arrested for the incident.

In another drug plane landing incident in November 2010, in which 5 persons — 4 policemen and a customs officer — were arrested and charged, the accused men were acquitted at the Supreme Court trial, but the case is still before the Court of Appeal.