B.D.F. Says IED Found on Maya Aircraft; Maya Says It’s a Rocket Motor

On Tuesday at midday, the Belize Defense Force was informed that a contraption which appears to be an explosive object had been found on an aircraft belonging to Maya Island Air.  When B.D.F. personnel arrived at the municipal airstrip a few minutes later, they observed that the device had already been removed from the aircraft and set on a picnic table nearby.  According to an incident report from the B.D.F.’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit, the flight originated from San Pedro and the airplane landed at Sir Barry Bowen’s Municipal Airport. The report further states that the device initiator was already removed from the body of the improvised explosive device, later identified as a binary dynamite with high explosive filling, by someone who was being instructed by Retired General David Jones.  The object had a diameter of one inch and a length of six inches.

The aircraft upon which the I.E.D. was flown to Belize City had already departed for the Philip Goldson International Airport.  According to B.D.F. personnel, if a second or third device was on the aircraft and detonated, it could have been fatal to the crew and passenger, including the aircraft itself. When the initiator was triggered, it indicated that the device was real and had it been set off on board the flight, it could have caused the aircraft to explode.  News Five understands that Maya Airlines maintains that the device found onboard the airplane is a rocket motor and that it is consulting with an international explosives expert to verify that it is a rocket motor.