GEORGETOWN, Guyana – Police have detained two foreign nationals after a single-engine plane bearing what appear to be United States registration markings, N5470Z, made an illegal landing at the Mahdia airstrip in Region 8 (Potaro-Siparuni) on Sunday.
Police said that bags bearing the marking “King Coca 30” and believed to be cocaine were found strapped inside the aircraft.
In a statement late Sunday, the police said anti-narcotics police were weighing the cocaine and some marijuana at the Criminal Investigations Department Headquarters in the presence of a Colombian pilot, 42-year-old Rodrigues Estiven, and Brazilian co-pilot 24-year Mateus Vinicius Alberto.
They said the marking, King Coca 30, on eight of the ten bags of cocaine is similar to the King Coca-branded 973 blocks of cocaine that had been seized in South Africa last year from aboard a Panama-registered fishing vessel.
The police were also trying to ascertain where was the intended destination of the plane that landed at the Mahdia airstrip at about 2:20 pm (local time) on Sunday.
Police said they also found two Global Positioning Service (GPS) devices, one satellite phone, one radio set, and two cellular phones.
Media reports said that law enforcement authorities also found empty fuel drums on board the aircraft suggesting that a precautionary landing was made to secure additional fuel supplies.
In the past, several abandoned or crashed and burned illegal aircraft have been found in several parts of the interior of Guyana and Suriname.
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