Two foreign nationals were arrested after an unmarked aircraft landed at an airstrip in Mahdia. The men have been identified as 32-year-old Juan David Caicedo Villa, a pilot, of Villavicencio, Colombia, and 48-year-old Gustavo Adolfo Riascos Gomez, a pilot/businessman of Tachira San Cristobal, Venezuela.
According to a Police release, the discovery of the six-seater red and white aircraft was made around 18:00 hrs on Sunday. According to reports, ranks of Mahdia Police Station observed an aircraft circling the Mahdia airstrip in an attempt to land around the aforesaid time. As a result, a party of Policemen immediately went to the said airstrip.
On arrival there five minutes later, the ranks saw a six-seater Piper Aire blue, red and white aircraft on the ground in front of the Trans Guyana hanger. The two foreign nationals were seen standing in front of the aircraft talking to the security guard and a ramp attendant.
When confronted by the Policemen, one of the men, said, “We are lost. We came from Venezuela and going to look for gold”. A search was conducted on the men and the plane but nothing illegal was found. The aircraft contained three 15 gallon drums – two of which contained fuel.
The other items found on the aircraft include a hammock with a net, a bag containing clothing and personal effects, identifications cards, a Garmin GPS, an Iridium Phone, one Icom radio set, one spot trace device, two phone chargers, one earpiece, one lighter, one torchlight, one Motorola phone, a Samsung phone, one knife, two wristwatches, a wallet, and two grammes of suspected cannabis and bamboo wrap.
The items have been lodged and the aircraft is currently under guard. The two foreign nationals were arrested and placed into Police custody pending investigations.
