Another apparent drug plane landed in northern Belize last night - but they didn't burn this one.
The Beechcraft 200 Super King Air was found in northwestern Belize - near to Blue Creek and not far from the Belize Mexico border. The King Air is a large plane and it can carry about two tons of load. It's also heavy, apparently too heavy for the muddy are where it landed and the images we got show mounds of mud on the wings. The plane is damaged to the front of the fuselage and one wing is also smashed.
Looking inside, there are lots of black plastic bags, rope and a marker - which, experts tell us, suggest that it may have been used in a wet drop.
Experts say that maybe it made the wet drop, and landed to refuel, but something went wrong on landing and they had to ditch the plane. At today's press briefing, police told us they did try to burn it.
ACP Joseph Myvette - Head, NCIB
"Sometime shortly after midnight this morning Orange Walk police received a call of an aircraft which had crash landed in a pasture somewhere in the Quatro Luegas area of Orange Walk which is a remote area behind Blue Creek village. A team of police and BDF responded to the area where the aircraft was located sometime shortly before 2:30 AM. Upon inspection of the aircraft it was found to have only 2 seats which was the passenger seat and the pilot seat also one person was found who is detained that was coming out of the area prior to the police's discovery of the aircraft. The police are currently on the ground conducting an intensive investigation into this matter."
Jules Vasquez
"Was anything found inside the plane? I know often times these planes are destroyed by fire, this one was not."
ACP Joseph Myvette
"No, the only thing that the entire cargo area of the plane was empty with the exception of the two seats as previously mentioned. Upon inspection of the plane there seem to have been some intention to set the plane on fire as well."
Reporter
"The individual that was subsequently detained was he caught leaving the area on foot, was he driving out of the area?"
ACP Joseph Myvette
"He was found driving out of the area but not in the exact immediate area. He's of Belizean nationality. I know a search of the area the police had also observed a white Ford pickup in the river on the Mexican side which seem to have been stuck in the river but on the Mexican side of the river."
Jules Vasquez
"We heard that a wing was broken."
ACP Joseph Myvette
"The area that was damaged from the plane I believe that is the same area that they attempted to set on fire. Traces of blood was found in the pilot's seat area of the aircraft as well as I believe upon inspection of the pickup from a distance the white pickup found on the Mexican side were also traces of blood that were seen from a distance in the pickup as well."
Jules Vasquez
"Sir now we are assuming that drugs were transported on this plane, this is the standard MO for those type of operations. Where did the drugs go?"
ACP Joseph Myvette
"Well the contents of the plane has not yet been determined."
Jules Vasquez
"But they were not bringing milk."
ACP Joseph Myvette
"I don't know if it was bringing anything at all, I'm just telling you that nothing was found and the officers are still out there conducting their investigation."
The Beechcraft 200 has a flying range of 1600 miles at 350 miles per hour. The plane remains under police guard.
A search of the tail letters shows that it comes out of the Santiago Mariño Caribbean International Airport in Venezuela.
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