Tonight, additional details have emerged that paint a clearer picture of Sunday's drug plane landing in Mountain Pine Ridge. It was around 2am when the pilot set his sights on a private airstrip in the area. Just a few minutes before, the narcos on the ground forced the airstrip's watchmen to allow the plane to land. But police believe that due to the fog, the pilot miscalculated and crash landed.
A major setback, but still, the two pilots survived and the narcos began offloading the two dozen bales of cocaine from the Cessna Centurion.
But they were trapped in the MPR area when officers responded and blocked off the entry and exit ways. And while some of the narcos managed to escape, the police made a sizeable bust of men and drugs.
Commissioner of Police, Chester Williams, divulged the details at length during an hour long press conference. Courtney Menzies put the pieces together and has this story of what happened in Hidden Valley.
While this photo may look like stacks of Apple MacBook Pros, they're in fact 514 bricks of cocaine. They were discovered in the Mountain Pine Ridge area yesterday by police teams that have been on the ground since the landing of the drug plane on Sunday.
But before they discovered the drugs, they found the co-pilot, 27-year-old Jesus Alberto Quintero Martinez, who is from Sinaloa, Mexico - suggesting that he could have ties to the powerful Sinaloa Cartel.
It's a major development since the ComPol's last press conference on Monday, and today he gave us an update on the police's work in the jungles of MPR.
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"On Monday, we were able to locate the pilot of the plane who is a Mexican and he was severely injured. Apparently suffering from a broken leg and a broken arm. The pilot is admitted in one of our hospitals in this country, I'm not going to say where. We spent the night in the Pine Ridge and yesterday morning just before midday, Mr Grinage and his team came upon what we believe was the content of the aircraft, which happened to be 22 and a half bales of suspected cocaine amounting to 514 bricks and just over 700 kilos. The suspected cocaine was removed from the area yesterday, has been processed and now is being kept pending destruction."
"Our operations also unearthed a grey Toyota Hilux which belong to the wife of one of the Mennonite who we believe is in involved in the plane landing and is also detained and is being charged in respect to conspiring to land the plane. That vehicle was found not too far from where the drugs was found. We also believe that that was the vehicle used to move the pilot from where the plane had crashed."
And while they've got the six who have been arraigned, and the pilot, they're still missing a few links - including the other pilot and the drug caretakers.
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"The co-pilot was found not too far from the outlet, the main outlet, near the highway which means they were already trying to take him out of the area, but because the checkpoint was there, they could not have so they abandoned him before the checkpoint so what would have been done, they would have tried to walk him through the bushes, past the checkpoint, but then the police were able to spot them and he was intercepted."
"The plane actually had two pilots when it came, it had the pilot and the co-pilot. The one we have in custody is the co-pilot. Based on what we gathered is that the pilot, because what you all need to understand, when we have these plane landings, the most important asset is the plane landing, the pilot is more important than the drugs, because the pilot can always be used to fly again so they will always seek to secure the pilot first. So one of the vehicles that evaded the law enforcement team that responded, we believe that was carrying the other pilot who I'm told was also injured but not as severely injured as the one who was left behind."
"We do believe that they were some persons manning the drugs and perhaps when they heard the police in the area, they might have flee, leaving the drugs behind. What we also believed is that the drugs was not always there, it was somewhere else but perhaps during the course of our operations in the jungle, they believed we were getting too close and they moved it to that location where it was found. So we have a pretty good idea who is the person who was responsible for manning the drugs and that happened to be the brother of the Mennonite that we have detained. He is still being sought, we have not been able to find him and may I also say the Mennonite who is detained, Mr Penner, is the holder of two gun license and we have not been able to locate his guns and he is saying he don't know where his guns are so we believe his guns were being used by those manning the drugs as their protection."
And police believe the other pilot, along with the narcos, escaped using this white Hilux, property of Penner.
Jules Vasquez:
"Is it felt that that truck that eluded law enforcement has gone across-
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"We have found that vehicle, it's in our custody, we have that vehicle."
Jules Vasquez:
"So where are the people?"
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"Well we found it couple hours after."
Jules Vasquez:
"And that's the hilux belonging to Mr Penner's wife?"
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"That's the white Hilux you see in the compound here. No, that belong to Mr Penner. His wife's one is a grey one which is still in the jungle. It is in a very steep area and it is difficult to be removed but we're getting it out from there today."
So to recap, those two trucks, along with this black Toyota pickup are currently in police custody, as well as Police Corporal Eric Young, Salus Penner, and four other Belizeans, and the Mexican pilot.
And with all the new information that the police have gathered over the past two days and two nights in the jungle, they will be looking to upgrade the charge for the detainees, despite the "hunting" alibi.
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"Now that the content of the plane has been found, they will be additionally charged for conspiring to import cocaine into the country and the pilot will be charged for importing cocaine into the country."
Reporter:
"The family of one of the men, in terms of the claim that they were hunting, the family claims they were hunting there for days."
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"They were hunting there for days, you should have asked them where is the game they caught for the days they were hunting. That would be a good question to ask them. And I will leave it at that."
And this hunting crew is currently on remand at the Belize Central Prison and won't be in court until February 22nd. Meanwhile the Mexican pilot is under guard at a hospital and the police are on the hunt for others that were involved.
We must make the correction that while the ComPol said that the officers found 22 and a half bales, it was actually 25 and a half. Additionally, he mentioned that the weight of the drugs amounted to over 700 kilos, when in reality it is only 579.34 kilos, or 1,277.23 pounds.
