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Today the commissioner of police - who has recently returned from his trip to Turkey - spoke about this latest plane landing, and the frustration of knowing his own officers are involved. Courtney Menzies has this story.

Another police officer is behind bars tonight after another suspected drug plane landed in Belize, this time in the Hidden Valley area of Mountain Pine Ridge. But unlike the landing in Bladen, there were no drugs found, just four men in the area who claim they were hunting.

And one of the reasons the drugs were able to disappear may be because JIAC lost sight of the track as the plane was flying, and so by the time they responded, it had already landed.

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"As the commissioner of police I have no operational command of the JIAC, it falls under the ministry of defense. Nonetheless, just to give you a synopsis of what I know, from what I have been briefed, the plane was being tracked leaving South America coming to our direction, I think that night there were three tracks that were being monitored, and the tracks disappeared off the radar and suddenly reappeared when they were already in our airspace and therefore the teams could have not been deployed as quickly as they could have been. Nonetheless, when the information came from the Mexican air asset that the place was spotted on the ground in the Mountain Pine Ridge area, the JIAC quickly coordinating teams to respond to that location and teams went into the area and as they were doing so, they encountered two vehicles, they were able to stop one and the other managed to escape. The one that they stopped had three occupants, one of whom is a corporal of police who is assigned as security at the DPP Belize City office and the other two persons were from the San Ignacio area. Those persons were detained and are in police custody at this time."

But while their searches for the drugs were futile, the police managed to catch another suspect.

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"We also received information of a third person who was involved who was the driver of the vehicle that managed to evade the team that intercepted the other vehicle. That person is a Mennonite who lives in the Spanish Lookout area and who also have a farm not too far from where the plane landed. We were able to detain that person yesterday evening and we found in his sofa a little over $12,000 which he could not account for. We also found the vehicle that had escaped the team that tried to intercept it however it was long after he had disposed of the cargo."

And so now, the police have the Hidden Valley Four, their vehicles, and their weapons - which includes shotguns, a pistol and a .223 rifle licensed to the corporal - in custody. But the men aren't cooperating, saying they have an alibi.

Courtney Menzies:
"Sir are the detainees claiming they were hunting and is this a credible alibi or excuse?"

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"Well, yes they claimed that they were hunting and I agree that they were hunting cocaine."

But that cocaine isn't the only thing that's missing - the pilot is also nowhere to be found, and the commissioner says he might not even be alive.

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"I went to the spot personally yesterday and I saw the location and I'm still wondering if the pilot is alive because the plane actually slammed into the forest and it would appear that the pilot may have been hurt or dead, we don't know but we're still wondering how he is alive if he is alive. Yes there are several outlets, it's the first time I went to that area but there are many outlets that can be used to maneuver in that area."

And right now, the commander of operations, ACP Alford Grinage is out combing the area with his team, and they are optimistic that they'll find what they're looking for.

According to the ComPol, the small aircraft would only be able to hold about 500 kilos of cocaine.