Home Affairs Ministry Disputes Drug Plane Report, Cites Inflated Figures

Tonight, the Ministry of Home Affairs is pushing back against explosive claims about drug plane landings in Belize. A recent report from the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project suggests that more than seventy drug flights from Venezuela touched down here between 2020 and 2021. But the ministry says hold on, that number’s way off. In a press release issued today, officials say the real figure is closer to twenty-five, not seventy. Interestingly, the ministry didn’t respond directly to the international report but, instead addressed a local social media post that cited the investigation. The original article, titled ‘Leaked Emails Reveal “Air Bridge” of Drug Flights from Venezuela to Belize’, claims U.S. alerts sent to Mexican authorities flagged dozens of suspicious flights landing in Belize. While it’s true that those years saw a spike in drug plane activity, the ministry insists the numbers have been exaggerated, and they’re not taking it lightly. News Five’s Paul Lopez has more on the government’s response and what it means for Belize’s fight against narco-trafficking.

 

Paul Lopez, Reporting

After the Ministry of Home Affairs refuted claims of over seventy drug plane landings, News Five decided to dig into our own archives and what we found is telling. Turns out, 2020 and 2021 were indeed two of the busiest years on record for narco-trafficking activity in Belize. In fact, 2020 kicked off with a drug plane landing as early as January. So, while the ministry insists the number is closer to twenty-five, the reality is those years were far from quiet.

 

George Guest, Resident, Crooked Tree Village [File: Jan 22^nd, 2020]

“I hear, rrrrr and I said that don’t sound right. I turned down my tv and I said that is an airplane. And I don’t know where it landed. But I know it landed. The only place I can know about is Pineridge out in the sticks where the Mennonites are working, building a road.”

 

 

 

 

That month also saw a drug plane landing in the Payne’s Creek Area in Toledo District. February 2020 kicked off with a drug plane landing near Monkey River. Authorities only discovered its burnt remains. Two weeks later, this drug plane landed in Belize District with sixty-nine bails of cocaine.

 

 

 

 

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police [File: Feb 27^th, 2020]

“This morning early around twelve fifteen, twelve thirty, a tract was observed leaving Venezuela, heading our way.”

 

 

 

 

The year saw six additional drug plane landings, according to the Ministry of Home Affairs. And who could forget that Independence Day drug plane landing, right in the middle of a farm in Orange Walk. It was a daring move that ended with five people detained, including the farm owner and even a minor. But that wasn’t the end of it. Just weeks later, in October, another drug plane touched down in a remote area between Shipyard and Crooked Tree. That one was torched and buried, a clear attempt to erase the evidence. And then again in December of 2020, this time in southern Belize. These incidents paint a vivid picture of just how active those years were in Belize’s narco-trafficking landscape.

 

 

 

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police [File: Dec 10th, 2020]

“We have been dealing with these plane landings for quite some time, and it is extremely difficult to prevent them from landing and we often don’t get credit for this we averted, and we would be bashed for the very few that do find their way in our country.”

 

 

 

Ten drug planes landed in 2020 and that number climbed to fifteen in 2021, according to the Ministry of Home Affairs. And the year got off to an interesting start. In late January, authorities discovered the burnt remains of a twin engine aircraft in an area between Lemonal and Crooked Tree. Authorities detained nine men in the area, including law enforcement officers. Just four months later, in May, a fully intact drug plane landed in a remote area near Blue Creek, Orange Walk District.

 

 

 

Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs [File: May 14^th, 2021]

“The police department was notified by our counterparts that there were three suspected airplanes leaving south America, heading in the direction of Central America. And around one or two o’clock it was confirmed that one of those aircraft landed in the Blue Creek Area of the Orange Walk District.”

 

 

 

That same month a suspected drug plane crash landed off the coast of Placencia. What about the highway landing near Bladen Village in November 2021? That landing saw a standoff between law enforcement and heavily armed men and the subsequent detention of more than twenty bales of cocaine.

 

 

 

 

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police [File: Nov 5^th, 2021]

“Upon arrival there they saw the plane on the ground, [with] vehicles and persons around which would indicate that cargo was being unloaded from the plane.”

 

 

 

November 2021 saw four drug plane landings across Belize City. Notably, our records show that there were nowhere close to seventy reported drug plane landings between 2020 and 2021. The Ministry notes that between 2022 and 2025, a total of fourteen drug plane landings has been reported. Reporting for News Five, I am Paul Lopez.