iStockphoto / mikvivi
Drug cartels have numerous methods to smuggle their illegal merchandise. Commercial vehicles, trains, boats, narco submarines, Los Pollos Hermanos batter buckets, and even medieval-style catapults. Another mode of transportation utilized by drug cartels are private narco jets, and we have a pretty impressive video as proof.
Guatemalan army officials located a private plane in the middle of a dense tropical rainforest in the northern region of Реtеn, bordering Belize and Mexico. On January 27, 2020, Guatemalan authorities discovered а “nаrсо-јеt, twо vеhісlеѕ thаt trаnѕроrtеd thе drugѕ аnd fіrеаrmѕ,” according to Breaking Belize News. “Thе аrmу fоund 16 расkаgеѕ оf ѕuѕресtеd сосаіnе іn thе bасk оf а рісkuр truсk” as well as АК-47 іn Ѕаn Аndrеѕ, Реtеn.
The amazing part is that the pilot of the small Hawker Siddley 125 business jet landed the plane in the jungle on a narrow, dirt runway, at night, none-the-less. Local residents in Belize, about eight miles from the makeshift landing strip, heard the plane flying above their community around 11 at night.
The drug cartel did such an incredible job landing it, and probably had plenty of practice in covert aviation. A brave Guatemalan Air Force pilot was willing to attempt to fly the narco jet and takeoff from the precarious improvised airstrip.
The air force pilot was able to take off from the dirt runway, that was anything but level. There were several rolling hills on the unpaved runway and took off before a wall of trees.
The pilot flew the narco jet to a Guatemalan Air Force installation, where the aircraft was impounded.
There is a twist in the story, the drug-running Hawker Siddley 125 airplane had the same registration number as another narco plane that was busted two years ago in Belize. And the same registration number has been used by another narco jet that was captured a month before the drug-running plane in Belize.
That registration number is N818LD, which is a real registration number approved by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), according to The Drive. The registration belongs to British Aerospace 125 mid-size business jet owned by Central Virginia Aviation LLC.
The narco jet is a fine addition to any well-respected drug cartel, but 16 packages of cocaine? Those are rookie numbers? Get yourself a narco sub so that you can smuggle 152 bundles of cocaine weighing three tons with the street value of $110 million.
[TheDrive]