No Drugs Found on Business Type Jet that Crash Landed in Blue Creek
Just eleven days ago, a Beechcraft Super King Air Two Hundred landed on an illegal airstrip off the Coastal Road. Sixty million dollars worth of cocaine were confiscated from the plane and eight men from Honduras, Ecuador and Mexico have been charged and are spending time at the Hattieville prison. This morning, a much larger aircraft, an executive jet, landed near Blue Creek, another known hotspot for the transhipment of drugs. When police got to the scene, the aircraft was abandoned; no one was nearby nor was there any sight of cargo. Access to the area was blocked. Because of the circumstances, police are investigating that the jet was transporting drug traffickers. Here is Dalila Ical with that story.
Dalila Ical, Reporting
This is as close as police allowed us to get to the jet that crash landed a few minutes after four o’clock this morning along this dirt road in Blue Creek, Orange Walk, close to a Mexican community. The area around Blue Creek is known as a hot spot for drugs transhipment. The aircraft, typical to a business type jet, is about a mile further down the road. This is actually a road used by farmers in the area, part of which is a legal airstrip for small agricultural aircrafts that is marked by red and white drums. A team of heavily armed police officers, led by Orange Walk Commanding officer, Juanito Cocom stood guard in this area.
Chester Williams
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
“There they discovered a white jet. It was partially split in half. Inside the jet the seats were still there. It had all the seats. We went ahead and did the processing in terms of trying to determine if in fact any illicit item may have come on board it but the results of those tests are still pending.”
The police’s response was immediate because according to the Commissioner, police had received intel prior to the jet’s arrival.
Chester Williams
“We did get prior information and we had officers deployed in another area in Blue Creek where we had anticipated it would have landed but it went closer to the Mexican border. So, where the officers were was like ten to fifteen minutes where the plane actually landed and by the time they got to the location there was no one inside.”
The jet landed approximately two point five miles away from the Mexican border. We understand that a small community is located in that area in Mexico. It appears a carefully calculated move, especially since police encountered obstacles along the road. First, they encountered a tire spike strip near the BAHA post just before Blue Creek Village. Some fifteen miles after, police came across burning tires and large tree branches blocking the road.
Chester Williams
“They encountered a few obstacles that delayed their response a bit but by the time they got to the location they didn’t find anyone and there was no cargo in the plane.”
Commissioner Williams adds that this is the largest jet that has landed illegally in Belize. A smaller one had landed in San Estevan back in April of 2018 but all seats were missing. The possibility that this aircraft was transporting narco-traffickers is under investigation.
Chester Williams
“Every other drug plane that we have found does not have any seat inside. This one have all the seats so I cannot say what cargo, if any, was on board the plane and i don’t want to speculate. So, I am not going to say anything further. We will see if the test results will say whether or not there is residue of any type of drugs on the plane and then we go from there.”
Reporting for News Five, I am Dalila Ical.
