Friday, July 18, 2025

Presumed ‘narco-plane’ lands on highway; soldier killed in clash

An army commander was injured and his driver killed when a small plane carrying drugs landed on a highway in Quintana Roo early Monday morning.

After the plane touched down on the Chetumal-Mérida highway in Bacalar, its occupants proceeded to shoot at the commander, José Luis Vázquez Araiza, and his driver, who was not identified.

President López Obrador noted the incident in his morning press conference as he was praising the efforts of Mexico’s military across the nation. The president said the plane contained drugs, and local media reports referring to it as a ‘presumed narco-plane.’

The two-seater plane was then abandoned in the area, where the Mexican National Army conducts vehicle traffic control operations.

Bacalar municipality, which borders Belize, has been a hotspot for violence related to drug trafficking in recent years, with organized crime syndicates fighting for control of territory.

In one such confrontation in July last year, nine people were killed and another seriously injured following a shootout on the Chetumal-Felipe Carrillo Puerto highway. Two small planes believed to be part of drug-smuggling operations crashed in the area in October 2018, and another in December 2019.

Source: Noticaribe (sp)

Have something to say? Paid Subscribers get all access to make & read comments.
A man stands by an open suitcase in an airport revision area

Foreign national caught with over a million pesos of ketamine in Cancún airport

0
Officials confiscated 2 kilograms of ketamine, a controlled substance in Mexico.
two people walkin gby a for rent sign

Can rent control stop gentrification? Mexico City officials plan to find out

9
Political leaders in the nation's capital have reached into their anti-gentrification toolkit and come up with an approach that goes straight to the heart of the problem.
cell phone with Uber

Mexican authorities slam Uber’s price hike: ‘Unilateral and irresponsible’

2
The ride-hailing app insists that the rise is necessary after recent labor reforms gave its drivers full employee rights, including IMSS membership.
BETA Version - Powered by Perplexity