Tonight, Belizean law enforcement should be patting themselves on the back: they collaborated on a major drug plane interdiction on Friday evening where they secured everything: the drug plane, the cocaine cargo, the pilots. They missed only one thing-the aviation fuel - which ended up burned. But tonight, we still can't say by whom.
Now, from experience reporting on these plane landings, we know that law enforcement being right on the spot where the plane lands is exceptionally rare.
So was it good fortune or just incredible multi agency cooperation - including with the Mexicans and the Americans?
If you believe in the "plain good luck" theory: the Customs discovery of the obviation earlier in the day may have been pivotal - because it might have clearly suggested where the aircraft would land.
But according to the COMPOL, it wasn't luck, it was teamwork:
Dr. Richard Rosado, COMPOL
"Our successful operation today indicates that, you know what, Belize is not a transit route for illegal drugs. We have the intelligence, we have the partnership, we have the capability to detect, to track and intercept. So we have the capabilities."
Reporter
"How have our US counterparts responded to this successful bust?"
Dr. Richard Rosado, COMPOL
"Well, they have been a partner for us. They have been a partner throughout from the initial interception to the conclusion of the arrests."
"So they have been a supporting agency. It was first located in the Pacific by the U.S. And it was then communicated to JOIC."
