A plane taking off from the city of Cozumel in southern Mexico to go to the Dutch island country of Curaçao off the coast of Venezuela was shot down in mid-air after being marked as “enemy” by the Venezuelan Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB).
FANB Commander General Domingo Larez Hernandez stated that the plane disappeared on the radar after entering Venezuelan airspace, turned off its position transmitter and radio to avoid detection, and that it was shot down after it headed for the plains on the Colombian border, where smugglers landed.
General Hernandez also stated that they found evidence that the plane belonged to drug and arms smugglers, and did not share information about how many people were on the plane that was shot down, or the number of dead and wounded.
Venezuela shot down 34 planes this year. Venezuela shot down 34 planes that entered its airspace illegally this year.