But, that's just the prelude to a very big story. In total, 6 foreigners are in police custody for this morning's big drug plane bust.
They have not been charged as yet so police have not released their names but they are 4 Hondurans, 1 Ecuadorian and 1 Mexican - two of them are pilots. 3 of the 6 are under police guard at the KHMH after being injured in the shootout at the illegal airstrip on the coastal road.
Police also recovered 41 bales or 1,210 parcels of cocaine from the scene and - as you saw - the King Air 200 they flew in is also in police custody.
So while those are the facts of the case at this point, what happened out there at the airstrip ?
Well, what unfolded can only be the result of timely and accurate intelligence and a well-coordinated response plan. That's because Belizean authorities were already on the ground laying in wait as the plane landed and the two vehicles showed up to pick up the cargo. That is when Belizean law enforcement pounced on the men. The police opened fire on the men and injured two of the men while another one was reportedly shot by one of their own.
Today at a 3:00pm press briefing in Belmopan Commissioner of Police Chester Williams gave a full run down of what happened on the ground and congratulated his team for this successful drug bust.
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"Yesterday during the day we received intelligence of a tracked leaving out of Venezuela. As we would normally do, we mobilized members of the security forces and deployed as different aero dome, both legal and illegal with the hope that the plane would land at one of these aero dome. Our officers remained in place and around 12:18 last night the plane was spotted making a landing on an illegal aero dome off the Coastal Road. The security forces who were in the area remained in place and allowed the plane to land properly before making a move. When the plane landed properly and the pilot had turned off the engine, two vehicles approached the plane with men on board. These men we believe were the ones who were tasked to unload the cargo from the plane. While they were unloading the cargo, the security forces made a move towards them. In that process, they drove off with one of the vehicles and the some of the security forces in pursuit, while others remained in the area of the plane. Shots were fired and our officers returned fire during which two of the fleeing suspects were injured to the hand. They were all apprehended. The two injured were immediately rushed to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital for treatment while other officers remain at the location awaiting the processing of the scene. Scene of Crime were brought in. The plane was processed. The cargo was unloaded and it totalled 41 bails. They were taken to Belize City where the actual processing will be taken place with the forensic personnel and the counting. The counting yielded one 1,210 parcels. Shortly after the security forces department the location of the plane, information was received that a third person was in the bushes with gunshot injuries. The security forces went to make checks and they found the said third person with pellet wounds to the abdomen. According to him, he was shot by one of his own colleague who had also escaped. He was rushed to KHMH where contrary to the reporting the media that he succumbed, he was admitted in a stable condition."
"I want to applaud all the members of the security forces who were involved in this operation. I believe that it was well planned and well-coordinated, hence the reason it yields the success that it did."
Reporter
"The two vehicles which were used to unload the cargo, where those vehicles detained? Do they have Belizean license plates? Who do they belong to?"
Chester Williams
"One of the vehicles had Honduran license plates and the other one had no license plate."
Reporter
"There were mentioned that there were no Belizeans found, or they weren't found on the scene. Is it fair to say that there is some larger connection to a group here in Belize that helped?"
Chester Williams
"That would be assuming and he don't want to assume. From what we know these people came into the country days ago and they might have been doing their own canvassing and might have had knowledge of the area, so we don't want to assume."
Now, the police should be very familiar with this airstrip off the coastal road. Our information says that from as early as 2010 - police have known it to be in active use for illicit landings.
So why don't police destroy this airstrip and other well-known illegal landing sites such as this one. Well Commissioner Williams says it is not that straightforward.
Reporter
"So why not take measures to destroy the airstrip prior to any plane attempting to land?"
Chester Williams
"We can't go and destroy people private property, no."
Reporter
"Who does the property belongs to?"
Chester Williams
"I'm not going to go into details with that."
Police say they only found pocket money at the scene other than the drugs and are not sure how many persons are at large. As you heard, no Belizeans were caught on the scene.
The drug cargo has not been weighted yet, but we estimate that the 41 bails or 1,210 parcels weighs over 2,500 pounds, which is more than a ton. But, we stress, the total weight and the street value have not been finalized yet. Hopefully, we can have that by Wednesday.
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