Brazilian authorities said on Thursday they had seized 380 kilograms of marijuana from a small aircraft that entered the country's airspace from Venezuela and attempted an emergency landing in the Amazon region. The incident comes amid heightened U.S. military operations in the Caribbean aimed at counter-narcotics enforcement and increased scrutiny of Venezuela's alleged ties to drug trafficking.
According to Brazil's Federal Police, the twin-engine Beechcraft 58 Baron was detected on radar after crossing into Brazilian territory without authorization on September 10. Venezuelan new site El Pitazo reports that the Air Force then scrambled two A-29 Super Tucano jets to intercept the aircraft. The pilot refused orders to divert to a nearby landing strip and instead descended to tree-top level before ditching the plane into the Balbina reservoir near Presidente Figueiredo, Amazonas state.
