You could call it an Independence Day special - a drug jet that landed in northern Belize before dawn on the 21st September. Tonight, police are scouring an area off the Old Northern Highway where they believe a massive drug cargo could still be hidden somewhere. And that's because they got to the landing site, shortly after the jet touched down.
The Commissioner of Police briefed the press today at his office in Belmopan:
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"Sunday night, we received information of a tracking that had left South America and was heading in this region."
Police and BDF teams were deployed to various possible landing sites in the north.
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"We monitored the track throughout the night and sometime around two a.m. Monday, we were told that the plane had landed somewhere in the north, but we could not have ascertained the exact location, because when the plane dropped off the radar we were not able to continue monitoring."
And that's where the Mexican air support came in, spotting ground activity in the northern Orange Walk District, off the old northern highway - near the area known as "London":
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"The Mexican provided air assets that flew over and subsequently saw the plane in the area of Corozalito and that Neuland area."
Police rushed there and found a Gulfstream Jet, that was empty inside pushed into the bush. a recently cleared illegal runway, some light refreshments and a lot of heavy equipment - including a bulldozer that had been hauled there on this trailer:
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"Subsequent investigation into the landing of the plane led to the detention of 5 individuals. Those persons are in police custody as the investigation continues. One of the persons detained is the owner of the farm on which the plane landed. Another person is a Mennonite who owns a bulldozer that was also found on the scene and we believe that the bulldozer was used to cart the plane off the road and pushed into some bushes. We also found a tractor with a bush-hog that we believe was use to clear the area. A number of lights were found that we believe were used to illuminate the airstrip or the makeshift airstrip for the landing of the plane. We also found power saw that was used to cut down some posts along the road and we found some motorcycles that we believe were used by some of the persons who assisted in the landing of the plane."
Police are ready to charge two of those 5 men
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"We should be able to charge at least two individuals, that is the owner of the farm and the Mennonite who owns the bulldozer - both of whom we have received reliable information and evidence to suggest that they were on site when the plane landed. If a matter of fact the Mennonite and the owner had also left, but they were met by the police not too far from the farm after the plane had landed. So we could have tied them to the scene and then when we subsequently check we found out that the farm belong to one of them and not only does the farm belong to him, but he also controls the gate, he had the key for the gate - everything. There is practically good evidence against those 2 individuals - the bulldozer guy and the farm owner."
Police continued scouring the area today looking for the drug cargo.
Jules Vasquez, reporter
"Sir, where are the drugs?"
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"Like I said we believe it's still somewhere in the country. We are trying to see if we can track it down. We don't think that it has left the country. We are hoping that it is still here and we will be able to find it."
Reporter
"Any suspicions as to how the drugs were removed from the area?"
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"It was removed into 2 vehicles. I'm not going to go into specifics. We do have information that there may be some Mexicans involved in the transporting and facilitating the landing."
And, we must ask, was law enforcement involved?
Jules Vasquez, reporter
"Empirical evidence or history has shown that the volume of drugs is tons. Last time when you all had intercepted that jet, it was on to 2 tons of cocaine. I'm saying that I would think even with manual labor it takes quite a while to clear it out. Is there any chance that there was collusion by any element of law enforcement in facilitating this movement of what may be over a ton of cocaine?"
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"If there was, I could assure you that those elements would have been in custody. At this time we have nothing to suggest that."
In fact police say their work over the past many months has deterred these flights:
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"Through our efforts we have been able to deter many from landing. As a matter of fact I think this is our first landing in almost 4 months and it is not for the lack of trying, because every night including last night we had tracking coming our way, but our efforts have been exceptional in deterring them from landing, but we cannot stop all of them from landing."
The plane - which could not be flown due to deliberate damage done to it by the smugglers - was taken out of the area on a trailer yesterday.
Again, police are certain the drugs are going or have gone north, and because of the landing area - believe it has or will be moved by sea.
