News Five has received images of a plane crash off the coast of Placencia. Commissioner of Police Chester Williams has confirmed the plane crash News Five. Reports are that the plane crashed off the coast of Moho Caye. Details are that fishermen in surrounding villages are scrambling to find remnants of the plane’s cargo, as it is suspected that the plane was carrying illicit drugs.







Channel 5

Drug Plane Dives Into The Sea, Cargo In the Depths

And while Awe's career as the minister's driver took a nosedive, so did a suspected narco jet - right into Belizean waters. ComPol Chester Williams confirmed that they had been tracking the jet on Friday night, and deployed officers to various known landing areas. The team in Riversdale, in the Stann Creek District, reportedly deterred the plane from landing there, causing it to eventually crash in an area off the Placencia Peninsula. But while the police found its tail and wing, the fuselage - presumably full of drugs - is nowhere to be found.

The ComPol gave us an update on this latest narco jet landing lost and not found:

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"Sometime around one a.m. on Saturday morning, which is Friday night, the plane entered our airspace and our team, comprising of police and members of the Belize Defence Force were in place at the possible landing spots. Apparently, it wanted to land on the airstrip at Riversdale, but we had a team there and so it could not have landed. The plane went out and disappeared off the radar somewhere east of Placencia village. We were of the belief that the plane had gone to Honduras to land. In the morning of Saturday, we received information from fishermen that they saw the remains of a plane floating about fifteen to twenty miles east of Placencia village, which would be in the Moho Caye area. And based on that, we deployed members of the Belize Police Department and the Coast Guard to the area to search. So far we have found the wings of the plane and the tail, but we have not been able to locate the fuselage and that is the most important part because we still are of the view that the drugs may be in the fuselage as well as the pilots. Since then, we have conducted intensive search of the area, including using the helicopter to do a flyover of the general area, and we have still not been able to locate the fuselage. Our search continues; we have put together an investigative team that will be tasked to look at the entire situation to see if we will be able to get the information that will lead us to the fuselage of that plane."

Reporter
"What's the likelihood that the pilot survived?"

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"I cannot say. I don't think an impact like that the pilot would survive, but we will wait and see when we find the fuselage."

And if you're thinking of going "fishing" in that area, the ComPol warns that there are heavy police and coast guard presence surrounding it.

Channel 7

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Suspected Drug Plane Crashes into the Sea

A suspected drug plane crashed over the weekend in southern Belize, just off the coast of Placencia and in the vicinity of Moho Caye. Local authorities had been tracking the plane en route from South America on Friday night and there are reports that it was seen flying over Independence. But the plane went down over the water and only the wings and tail of suspected narco plane could be found. Today, authorities were out searching because police believe the aircraft plane, along with its cargo and body of its pilot may still be submerged. So the area is being guarded by heavy police and coast guard presence.

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police

“We did what we would normally do in terms of deploying our troops to the different areas that we believe the plane may possibly want to land. And sometime around one a.m. on Saturday morning, the plane entered our airspace and our team, comprising of police and members of the Belize Defence Force were in place at the possible landing spots. Apparently, it wanted to land on the airstrip at Riversdale, but we had a team there and so it could not have landed. The plane went out and disappeared off the radar somewhere east of Placencia village. We were of the belief that the plane had gone to Honduras to land. In the morning of Saturday, we received information from fishermen that they saw the remains of a plane floating about fifteen to twenty miles east of Placencia village, which would be in the Moho Caye area. And based on that, we deployed members of the Belize Police Department and the Coast Guard to the area to search. So far we have found the wings of the plane and the tail, but we have not been able to locate the fuselage and that is the most important part because we still are of the view that the drugs may be in the fuselage as well as the pilots. Since then, we have conducted intensive search of the area, including using the helicopter to do a flyover of the general area, and we have still not been able to locate the fuselage. Our search continues; we have put together an investigative team that will be tasked to look at the entire situation to see if we will be able to get the information that will lead us to the fuselage of that plane.”

Channel 5

Where is The Drug Plane's Fuselage?

And while that's just one kilo, a drug plane is known to carry tonnes of cocaine. And so, where is the rest of the cargo and the fuselage of the plane?

Well, it could still be buried beneath the depths of the sea - likely along with the pilot - or it could have been carried away by fast moving narcos.

Today at the installation of the GG, the press spoke with the Acting Commandant of the Belize Coast Guard. He provided details about the inter-agency investigation that has been triggered in the wake of this crash landing:

"The Commissioner of Police has gone on record to say that he believes that the fuselage has been towed away. We don't know by who."

"Well, we're looking at different leads right now. A lot of information has been coming in, one being the one that you just mentioned. However, we're looking at various possibilities. As it relates to the Coast Guard and what we're doing, we are looking at a variety of factors, and we have pooled together, through the JIOC, a group of aviation experts, us being the maritime experts, and we're looking at how that plane came in, creating different scenarios about what could have happened. And based on that, we're conducting our operations, but we are looking at several considerations as it relates to this particular case."

"Sir, is it possible that wave action moved the hub of this plane and drifted it away somewhere?"

"Well, that is a part of what we're doing. We, as the Coast Guard, look at sea state. We look at weather conditions. We brought in the aviation experts who look at cloud cover, trajectory, wind tide, surface current, sub-surface current, and we look at drift. And so, all these things we have factored into the equation for us to be able to make a proper analysis of what we believe transpired earlier that morning, and those determine the search area and search patterns that will be used to locate the fuselage of this aircraft."

Shortly after the plane went down, the authorities received initial — and still unverified — reports that civilians may have come across the wreckage of the plane, and its illicit cargo.

Channel 7

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