Five Men Reportedly Took The Airplane Which Had Been Seized In Anti-Drug Operation

A group of five men is suspected of breaking into an Honduran military base at an international airport in the northern part of the country and stealing an airplane that had been seized in an anti-drug operation.

The aircraft was stolen from La Mesa International Airport in San Pedro Sula, which is about 180 miles north of the capital of Tegucigalpa. Security Minister Oscar Alvarez said in a news conference that three guards were attacked by gunmen at an airport gate. Australia's Sky News reports that the men then went directly to a military hangar where the plane was housed, and flew it away. Their destination was not known.

The theft, which Alvarez described as "very professional" occurred at about 0300 at what is described as one of Honduras' busiest airports. Alvarez said that the plane's presence in the hangar was "really a temptation for organized crime or drug traffickers." Government officials were debating whether to donate the plane to a state agency when the theft occurred.

The Honduran government says about 800 tons of cocaine pass through the country each year as it travels between Colombia and the United States.

FMI: www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/1922.htm