Over the past year, we've been hearing about an increasing number of drug planes found in Belize. In every case, police find an abandoned, usually destroyed plane, after its drug cargo has been emptied out, and conveyed to a transshipment point in Mexico or Guatemala. That's what usually happens but that wasn't the case last night in Northern Belize where acting on excellent intelligence gathered in conjunction with the DEA, Belize's Anti-Drug Unit were waiting for a drug plane to land. What happened next seems to come almost out of a movie, but it didn't; it happened right there on the ground near San Lazaro Village in Orange Walk. Alfonso Noble has been on the ground putting the pieces together here’s his story.
Alfonso Noble Reporting,
Belize's Anti-Drug Unit along with Orange Walk police stand proud today as for the first time in recent memory since drug planes have been landing in the Northern District of Orange Walk they've been able to intercept the plane along with it's cargo.
Acting on information received last night police mounted a patrol in the outskirts of San Lazaro village where at around 12:15 this morning the plane: a Beechcraft twin engine aircraft crash landed into a cane field. When police approached the area they were met by gunfire from the drug traffickers who had formed a firing line to protect the cargo. Evidence of the skirmish comes from shells and live rounds of AK-47s and M-16's that were in the area. The lawmen responded and after a prolonged exchange which included drug traffickers firing at the authorities from a hovering helicopter the narco-traffickers abandoned the plane and its cargo and escaped into the surrounding cane fields. Police Press Officer G Michael Reid says the bust speaks well of Belize's efforts in the war on drugs.
G. Michael Reid, Police Press Officer
“It’s a big big haul indeed. It is a substantial amount of cocaine and it puts a big dent in the trade and as cocaine go we know that it’s about average for a shipment.”
This afternoon after weighing and testing the drugs were transported from the Raccoon Street police station in Belize City to a secure location. It took 15 minutes just to get the 32 bails into the carrier truck known as the bread van. All told the drugs weighed in at a whopping 702.5 kilos of cocaine. As for the weapons this Mach-90 along with an assortment of ammunition including 7.62 rounds,.45 rounds and AK-47 rounds were taken. Police are still combing the cane fields in the area where the plane landed in the hope of coming up with suspects and air patrols are looking for the helicopter which is believed to have taken fire and may have crash landed.
Police have put out patrols because the men in the plane ran into the bushes and are expected to surface eventually. Estimates are that at U.S. $30,000 per kilo for uncut, dry Colombian cocaine, in the United States, the drugs have an estimated value of U.S. $40 million. In Belize, a kilo is sold for about $12,000, in Belize, and the whole package would be valued at just over $9 million.