Two of the three foreign nationals who were held on Sunday at 9 Miles Airstrip, Issano, Middle Mazaruni River, where they claimed they crash landed, were yesterday charged with entering the country illegally.
Juan Ivan Fortool and Manoel Edson Pinheiro Costa appeared before Magistrate Crystal Lambert at a Vreed-en-Hoop Magistrate’s Court to answer to the charge.
They both pleaded not guilty and were remanded to prison until September 30th, 2020.
Police on Monday had announced that a red and white 206 Cessna, suspected to be a Brazilian aircraft and three male foreign nationals — a 38-year-old pilot from Boa Vista, Brazil, a 29-year-old pilot from Tumeremo, Venezuela, and a 35-year-old internet technician from Manaus, Brazil — were found at the 9 Miles Airstrip, Issano.
The police said the men claimed they were en route to neighbouring Suriname with another aircraft, when their aircraft developed mechanical problems.
However, it was noted that the aircraft was examined and no visible damage was seen on it. Searches were conducted on the aircraft but nothing illegal was found.
However, the police also confirmed that a second aircraft was found the next day, some distance from where the first was discovered. In a separate statement, the police said Joint Services ranks found a blue and white Beechcraft in a clump of bushes. The aircraft was badly damaged.
Bags of an undisclosed amount of suspected cocaine and the lifeless body of an unidentified male, suspected to be a foreign national, were found in the aircraft, the police said.
