Two Foreign Nationals are now in police custody after they landed an aircraft illegally at the Mahdia Airstrip on Thursday evening. Police in a press release stated that ranks of Mahdia Police Station observed the aircraft circling the Mahdia Airstrip in an attempt to land at about 18:00 hours. As a result a party of policemen immediately went to the said airstrip and on arrival about 18:05hrs, a six-seater Piper Aire blue, red and white aircraft was seen on the ground, in front of Trans Guyana’s hanger and two suspected foreigners were standing in front of the said aircraft talking to the security and ramp attendant.
The men were identified as Juan David Caicedo Villa a 32-year-old pilot of Villavicencio Colombia and Gustavo Adolfo Riascos Gomez a 48-year-old pilot/businessman of Tachira San Cristobal Venezuela.
When confronted by the police, one of the men, spoke in English saying ‘We are lost, we came from Venezuela and going to look for gold.”
A search of the men and the plane found nothing illegal. The aircraft contained three 15 gallon drums – two of which contained fuel – containing suspected fuel, one hammock with net, one bag containing clothing and personal effects while a black bag with identification cards documents, one Garmin GPS, one Iridium Phone, one Icom radio set, one spot trace device, two phone charger, one earpiece, one lighter, one torchlight, one Motorola phone, one Samsung phone, one knife, two wristwatches, one wallet, two grams of suspected cannabis and bamboo wrap.
The items have been lodged and the aircraft is currently under guard while both men were arrested and placed into custody pending investigations.
