Email

Print

But, this is not a clear-cut case like the early September Coastal Road drug bust where police caught the foreign traffickers red handed with over 2,900 pounds of cocaine. In this case, their intel was off and by the time police got on the scene, all they found were two snapped halves of the jet lying on the side of the road; No drugs, no passengers. All the seats were also in-tact which implies that it could have been human cargo on the plane. Police have done tests on the jet and are looking at all angles. Today at the press briefing at police headquarters in Belmopan, Commissioner Chester Williams discussed the information they have so far.

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"Some time after 4am, police responded to an area in Blue Creek just at the Belize Mexican border, very close to the border and there they discovered a white jet. It was partially split in half. Inside the jet the seats were still there, it had all the seats. We went ahead and did the processing, in terms of determine if in fact any illicit item may have come on board it, but the result of those tests are still pending. At this time there is not much information other than to say that while the police were responding they encountered a few obstacles that delayed their response a bit, ut by the time they got to the location they didnt find anyone and there was no cargo inside the plane."

Reporter
"What obstacles, sir?"

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"I am not going to go in details."

Reporter
"You didn't have an estimate time when the plane crashed?"

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"We believe it was around 4:30-4:45am thereabouts."

Reporter
"Did the police received prior information of this plane possible landing as was the case with the last plane landing where police intercept the plane and seized a number of drugs?"

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"Yes, we did get prior information and we had officers deployed in another area in Blue Creek where we had anticipated it would have landed, but it went closer to the Mexican border. So where the officers were was like 10-15 minutes to where the plane actually land and by the time they got to the location there were no one in site. You would know that every other drug plane that we have found do not have any seats inside. This one had all the seats. So I cannot say what cargo, if any was on board the plane and I don't want to speculate, so I am not going to say anything much further. We will see if the tests results will say whether or not there is residue of any type of drugs in plane and then we go from there."

We will keep following this case to see what the test results show.

Experts we spoke to who studied the pictures, noted that the thrust reversers on the engine are out - meaning that the plane was trying to pull up.

Information from the area says that it was flying about half an hour above the other side of the border before it crash landed.