Plane found on illegal runway…Aircraft bears similar registration to plane owned by Brazilian bank

Aug 16, 2017 News

The aircraft which was discovered on an illegal runway on Sunday at Santa Fe, North Rupununi bears a similar registration number to a plane owned by a bank in neighbouring Brazil, according to a source who is a part of the investigation.

The twin-engine Beechcraft King Air plane has a registration number of PR-IMG.

Yesterday, Director General of the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), Retired Colonel Egbert Field, noted that he heard of the aircraft registration and its linkage to the Brazilian bank, but an investigation has to be conducted to determine whether the registration number is authentic.

Kaieteur News was told that the registration number of a legitimate aircraft could very well be on the one that was discovered on the illegal airstrip. “My team is now doing (an) investigation to trace the registration number,” Field noted.

The Brazilian authorities would have to be contacted to determine whether the plane is in its registry. If not, the GCAA will seek the support of the US government to help track the owner of the plane by using the (manufacturer’s) serial number on it.

Yesterday, GCAA along with the Guyana Defence Force, the Guyana Police Force and the Customs Anti Narcotic Unit (CANU) conducted an assessment on the plane in an effort to determine the circumstances which led to the aircraft being abandoned on an illegal runway.

It was the police who found the foreign plane on a plot of land which had been recently cleared to use as a runway. The pilot and two other persons were spotted running after landing the plane.

A quantity of dry ration, medical supplies, gents clothing, footwear, two hand-held radios, flashlights, cellular phones and an identification card were among some of the items found in the aircraft during the initial inspection.

This discovery was made just a week after soldiers found another illegal airstrip, a chain saw, aviation fuel, 12 abandoned camps and several dug out trenches in the same area.

Additionally, another illegal airstrip was found in Yurupukari, Region Nine in September 2015. Investigations later revealed that the plane had originated in Colombia.

Minister of State Joseph Harmon had said that the country’s vast land and airspace makes it vulnerable to transnational security threats. He pointed out that the government is working with both local and international partners to build capacity and strengthen security.

Harmon further noted that the government recognized that over a period of years, there are those who have taken advantage of the lack of adequate resources to properly monitor those areas.

He had said too that the administration was taking such matters very seriously and continues to make every effort to better equip security forces and strengthen their capacity to secure the country’s territory.

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