Abandoned chopper found in Toledo

It has been a record year for government confiscations of suspiciously abandoned airplanes, with a couple of Beechcraft King Airs and a well maintained Russian Antonov 26 leading the illicit air show. This week, however, Belmopan’s growing fleet has gone to the next level with the addition of a high performance helicopter. This Bell 206 LongRanger was discovered on Tuesday by a joint police/B.D.F. patrol near the Sarstoon River at a place called Black Creek. According to a police release, no persons were found in the area, nor was there any evidence of any drug cargo. What they did find, however, was what are believed to be two bullet holes in the right side of the cockpit and a few drops of what appears to be blood on the floor. While we won’t look this gift horse in the mouth, the situation has authorities scratching their heads pretty hard. Even though the Sarstoon area, forming the border with Guatemala, is a hotbed of drug transhipment activity, the traditional mode of transport is large fast skiffs that pick up their cocaine from larger cargo vessels, or fish the bales out of the sea following “wet drops” from long-range airplanes. The use of a helicopter–this one has a Guatemalan registration number–would represent a new turn in the drug trade…and if the chopper isn’t involved in the cocaine business, what was it doing abandoned in the bush? Like the other mystery aircraft, this one will eventually be removed to the P.G.I.A. and sold at public auction.