The Mexican military has downed a private jet that was said to contain over £10m worth of cocaine.
The load was valued at around £14 million.
President Andrés Manuel López confirmed that the plane was forced to land near the border with Belize after a warning shot was fired by an army helicopter.
One pilot aboard the plane was arrested after he tried to abandon it, however the two pilots names weren’t released by media.
Only one of three planes detected were taken down, as the other two fled and were out of range to be taken down.
Aboard the plane that was downed, around 1 and a half tons of cocaine were seized.
The planes were all being tracked for some time according to intelligence agencies, and it’s believed that they’re headed to somewhere in central america.
The Mexican president said: “This was a job of the Army, of the Secretary of Defense. There was a pursuit of three planes that entered the national territory, through Quintana Roo.
“Two left and one landed at the Chetumal airport and investigations have already begun.”
“Last night, we had three tracks that were coming our way and as we normally do we deployed our officers to the respective areas where they were able to anticipate where these planes may land.
“Around 2am this morning one of the planes flew over one of the areas that our officers were posted and they must have gotten wind of something and they just flew over.
“A couple of minutes later we were notified that it did land in Chetumal airport. It goes to show the effort of our police officers in Belize.
“Even though we are not as equipped as we would like to be, and not as equipped as our counterparts around us, we have been able through our efforts to prevent a number of these planes from landing. And you saw what happened – it went and landed on a licensed, major airstrip in Chetumal – as a matter of fact, it was Chetumal International Airport.”
He concluded: “It goes to show the desperation of these drug traffickers and the extent to which they will go to transport their cargo.”
As big as this bust is, authorities are aware that trips like this are a nightly occurrence, and for every 1 plane or vehicle they catch, many more slip through the net.
