Another Suspected Drug Plane Lands Overnight in the South
A suspected drug plane, smaller than the aircraft that landed on the Southern Highway several weeks ago, arrived in Stann Creek District last night and seemed to have successfully discharged its illicit cargo before being consumed by fire. A team of officers was dispatched to an area near Santa Cruz Village where they came across the charred remains of an aircraft at the end of a runway. The men canvassed the area in search of clues that would lead them to the pilot, the cargo, and those who came to offload the plane but turned up empty-handed. News Five’s Isani Cayetano reports.
Isani Cayetano, Reporting
A single-engine aircraft touched down in south Stann Creek overnight, not too far from Santa Cruz Village. It is the first landing of a suspected drug plane since November fourth when a Piper Cheyenne landed on the Southern Highway in the vicinity of Bladen. Unlike the previous discovery, responding officers happened upon the burnt vestiges of that airplane at the end of an operational runway being used by Kanantik Jungle & Reef Resort. According to a brief report issued by the Belize Police Department this afternoon, information of a low-flying aircraft was reported shortly before two a.m. A team of officers was deployed to the area and when they arrived sometime later, they observed a small fire enveloping what was left of the aircraft. There were no signs of a pilot or passengers who may have arrived on the undocumented flight, nor was there evidence of empty fuel tanks or other paraphernalia typically found near an illegal landing site. As for the possible cargo, that, too, was unaccounted for, despite searches being conducted in the surrounding area. From the look of it, it appears that the narco-traffickers may have been successful in landing the aircraft, discharging and ferrying its contents elsewhere and then destroying it by fire. Police say an investigation is underway.
In other related news, an all-points bulletin is still out for the capture and arrest of thirty-five-year-old Efrain Cano, a resident of Caledonia Village who is wanted in connection with the landing of a twin-engine jet on November fourth. In that incident, eleven men, including four police officers and two Mennonite farmers, have been arrested and charged for landing the aircraft and possession of a sizeable quantity of cocaine that was said to be on the flight. Cano is being sought for the crime of abetment. In respect of the narco-eleven, eight persons have since been granted and met bail in the sum of forty thousand dollars each. We are informed that three of the men remain in lockdown at the Belize Central Prison.
