Police in Orealla, Region Six yesterday afternoon arrested two Brazilian nationals after the plane they were onboard crashed-landed in the village with a quantity of suspected cocaine.
The two men have since been identified as Salem Nobrega De Alencar, 64, and Andre Luiz Pereira, 31.
Stabroek News was told that the plane, PT-SRR crash-landed just before 2 pm.
According to information gathered, the men told residents of the riverine community that they were visiting the area for leisure but started to experience some mechanical issues in the air causing their fuel to run out and forcing them to crash-land in the area.
Police ranks stationed in the area quickly questioned the men and conducted a search of the aircraft during which a quantity of cocaine was discovered.
As of yesterday afternoon the men remained in police custody pending an investigation.
The Guyana Police Force in a statement confirmed that “a number of wrapped packages suspected to be cocaine have been discovered in the body of the aircraft.”
According to the Force’s statement, members of the Joint Services along with detectives from the region were dispatched to the location.
The Police today issued the following press release:
Responding quickly to information received, at about 15:00 hours yesterday Thursday May 20, 2021, police ranks from the Region 6 Police Division located a foreign registered four-seater Bonanza Beechcraft aircraft that had earlier landed on a sand trail at Orealla Village, Corentyne, Berbice River.
Two male foreign nationals, suspected to be Brazilians, who were in the vicinity were arrested by the Divisional ranks and an initial search of the aircraft revealed a quantity of suspected cocaine.
Other ranks of the Police Force’s SWAT Team, GDF and CANU were mobilised and dispatched to the scene from Camp Ayanganna aboard the GDF’s BEL-412 helicopter.
A thorough search of the aircraft was conducted and a total of 453 packages containing 453 kilograms of suspected cocaine were found, along with 2 Global Positioning Systems, 1 Radio Set, 3 Mobile Smartphones, 2 Identification Cards and the Aircraft Registration Documents.
The two foreign nationals, the suspected cocaine and the aircraft are in police custody as the investigations continue.
