Plane Stolen In Mexico Crashes In Guatemala; Cocaine Found Next To Dead Men Onboard

A business plane that was stolen in Mexico crashed in Guatemala on Wednesday following a mysterious trip to Venezuela. The Guatemalan military confirmed that the Hawker 800 twin-engine had crashed in a Guatemalan jungle in the Alta Verapaz region, leaving two men dead.

The plane took off from the Cuernavaca airport south of Mexico City on Tuesday noon without any authorization or flight plan. It then landed at Zulia airport in northwestern Venezuela near the border with Colombia hours later. After the short trip to Venezuela, the plane took off again for Guatemala until it crashed around 8 p.m. local time on Wednesday.

Local and federal authorities reported the theft of the jet in Mexico on Tuesday. Ruins of the plane, which can seat eight passengers, was recovered in a jungle in Guatemala near a hidden runway with two dead men onboard. The military also found 3 kilograms of cocaine and unspecified guns next to the bodies of the victims.

Senior state government official Pablo Ojeda said three men who identified themselves as mechanics entered the Cuernavaca Airport on Tuesday, saying they would take the jet for a test flight. After filling up the plane’s fuel tank, however, two of them took off without permission.

Officials said the men were wearing commercial pilot uniforms when they passed through security around 8:20 a.m. and entered the hangar in Cuernavaca, where they fueled up the business plane. After one of the three men left, the two other men turned off the plane’s radios and took off, nearly crashing into another plane in the process.

Ojeda said the owner of the business jet has yet to file a formal robbery report. He also revealed that Mexico’s transport ministry and attorney general’s office had already confirmed that the plane stolen in Cuernavaca was the same plane that crashed in Guatemala.

Official data reveal that the Guatemalan security forces have so far located 26 planes used in drug trafficking in the country this year. Last year, Guatemala confiscated 54 aircraft allegedly used to transport drugs in and around the country. Data from the United States also reveal that 90 percent of the total cocaine smuggled into the country arrives via plane from Mexico and other parts of Central America.