Drug helicopter will be sold to highest bidder

It was big news when a Guatemalan helicopter, allegedly laden with cocaine, made a forced landing on the Belize side of the Sarstoon River after being shot at by Guatemalan authorities. That was in March and in the days following the incident there were hard words between the two countries over who had salvage rights to the Bell Longranger. At the time, Foreign Minister Godfrey Smith defused the situation by saying that no decision would be made until a thorough investigation had been carried out. Apparently, that investigation is now complete, as an advertisement in this week’s Belize Times is soliciting offers for the aircraft, which now resides at the BDF’s Fairweather Camp outside of Punta Gorda. Prospective buyers may inspect the chopper from September twenty-seventh to October sixth, between one and three pm, with scaled bids submitted to the financial secretary no later than October seventh.