The aircraft crashed near the border with Colombia
On Monday Venezuela’s Aerospace Defence Command (CODAI) detected an illegal aircraft crossing over the national territory without a flight plan and violating its sovereignty. The aircraft lost control and crashed while being pursued by military aircraft sent to intercept it.
The Bolivarian National Armed Force’s Strategic Operational Command (Ceofanb) stated that the illegal aircraft, a privately-owned Hawker 800, was detected flying west of the Paraguana Peninsula in Falcon state.
The plane, which was detected by the radars of the Comprehensive Aerospace Defence Command, was intercepted by aircraft of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces in compliance with the provisions of the Law for Comprehensive Airspace Defence, approved in 2012.
It reportedly ignored the identification orders issued by the Venezuelan authorities and tried to land “on a clandestine runway used for illicit drug trafficking operations on the border with Colombia “.
The Aerospace Command announced the operation on Monday on its Twitter account.
?#Sigue|| En vista de que la aeronave procedió a realizar maniobras evasivas a baja altura, fue asistida y persuadida por aeronaves de la #AMB, por lo que la misma perdió el control precipitándose a tierra, ¡La #FANB continúa en vigilancia permanente de nuestro espacio aéreo! pic.twitter.com/OBGkdYeSEP
— @ceofanb (@Libertad020) August 10, 2020
Venezuela’s Minister of Interior and Justice, Néstor Reverol, added further details about the incident on Tuesday, saying that it was brought down to the south of Lake Maracaibo, in the state of Zulia, near the border with Colombia.
Reverol further stated that the National Anti-Drug Office of Venezuela, in coordination with ground-air operations, sent a team of experts to collect evidence from the location where the aircraft fell in order to conduct a criminal investigation.
Venezuelan authorities have detected this type of illegal incursions into Venezuelan airspace, typical of illegal drug trafficking and other clandestine smuggling or infiltration activities, on numerous occasions this year.
Most recently, on July 8 Ceofanb reported that CODAI detected an aircraft with a US registration number intruding into the national territory. In accordance with the relevant protocols, military jets intercepted and neutralized the privately-owned Hawker 800 plane.
A similar plane was downed by the Venezuelan military in June for violating Venezuela’s airspace.
Venezuela has a modern radar system mounted on a mobile platform deployed at key points along the country’s borders, which enables it to detect unauthorized or hostile enemy aircraft at a considerable distance. The Chinese-built JY-27 Wide Mat long-range early warning radar is said to be able to detect stealth aircraft at a arrange of up to 500 km. LINK
Reverol further stated that “The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela reaffirms its commitment to active and continuous combat against structured groups of transnational organized crime that intend to use our airspace for this criminal activity.”
From July 2019 to the present, Venezuela has seized more than 44 tons of drugs. In the same period, the Venezuelan authorities destroyed 58 drug laboratories, seized 11 aircraft and destroyed 34 clandestine runways used for drug trafficking.
The border between Venezuela and Colombia is more than 2,000 kilometres long. Colombia produces 70% of the cocaine consumed in the world, according to the United Nations World Drug Report published this year. LINK
MORE ON THE TOPIC:
Venezuela 4- Cocaine Importation Agency 0
Yes, it seems Venezuela has enacted a sanction regime of their own, hitting them where it hurts the most, in the wallet.
Our drug planes leaving A-stan are escorted by F35s
and u know this how..?
ahhaahhaha nice work venezuela
Let’s bomb and napalm one for the start laboratory in Colombia that produces cocaine.
Donald should build his stash.