A plane filled with cocaine crashed after a high-speed airborne chase with the authorities. On October 7, the defense ministry stated that the aircraft that carried half a ton of cocaine boarded two people who died upon impact.
Cocaine-filled plane
The plane was intercepted by Mexican military helicopters in Mexican airspace. According to the defense ministry statement, the military helicopters pursued the cocaine-filled plane for hundreds of miles until the aircraft ran out of fuel and crashed in Botija, Queretaro, on October 5.
The ministry added that the plane was carrying about 400 kilograms or 880 pounds of cocaine, as reported by CNN.
In the past few months, numerous planes have crashed or have been abandoned in southern Mexico and Central America after the defense military has tightened their security due to the rampant aerial smuggling.
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The plane crash reported on October 5 happened just two weeks after a jet from Mexico crashed in a Guatemalan jungle. The said jet was stolen and was filled with drugs and illegal weapons. It had made a trip to Venezuela before meeting its demise in the jungle near a hidden airstrip.
According to New York Post., the two men who were on board of the business jet were pronounced dead after the crash., according to New York Post.
Jet stolen from Mexico
On September 23, two thieves stole a business jet from an airport in Mexico, filled the jet with illegal weapons and drugs when it flew to Venezuela and flew to Guatemala, where it crashed.
According to the statement released by the authorities on September 24, a total of four bodies were found on the site where the business jet BAE 125, also known as Hawker 800, crashed.
Due to the severity of the incident, the burned bodies of the men were not immediately identified. Still, the authorities could find the illegal weapons and the drugs inside the burned wreckage of the business jet.
Authorities noted that the round-trip illicit flight began in Cuernavaca, south of Mexico City. According to ABC News., the business jet arrived in the city on August 10, and it was parked at a private hangar at the airport.
Mexico's Civil Aviation Agency reported that three men asked permission to fill up the tank and perform maintenance checks on the jet. But the men taxied to a runaway and took off without authorization and without filing a flight plan.
Authorities were quick to track the plane, and the Guatemalan army stated that the aircraft made a quick stop in Venezuela before it made its way to Guatemala. The reason behind its crash is still unknown.
The drugs and weapons found on the plane were believed to have been loaded when the plane made a quick stop at Venezuela, known as a major transit hub for cocaine and other drugs in South America.
Monitoring private planes is one of the steps taken by the defense military and the aviation agencies as drug smugglers look for new ways to transport their products after the U.S military and Mexican military banned drones near the border as smugglers use them to deliver drugs across the country.
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