Aircraft found at Yupukari brought to Timehri

…still no new leads

The illegal aircraft that was recently discovered camouflaged at an airstrip in Yupukari, Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo), has been repaired and flown to Timehri for investigations to be completed.

 The illegal twin-engine Cessna aircraft at CJIA
The illegal twin-engine Cessna aircraft at CJIA

According to a statement from the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), the twin-engine Cessna Aircraft was flown from Yupukari to Lethem initially on Friday, before arriving at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) at 10:00h on Saturday.
The release outlined that aeronautical engineers from the GDF Air Corps, after inspecting the aircraft, had identified the problems which had rendered it inoperable. The necessary spares were sourced and the repairs conducted, thus resulting in the aircraft becoming operable.
As such, it was flown to Lethem where it overnighted. This allowed for the GDF engineers to conduct further repairs and functional checks which then allowed it to be flown to Timehri. It is currently secured at the GDF Air Corps Hangar, Air Station London, CJIA.
Meanwhile, investigations are ongoing with regards to all aspects surrounding the discovery of the aircraft.
Outgoing Chief-of-Staff, Brigadier Mark Phillips, told Guyana Times on Saturday that no further leads have been found with regards to finding the persons connected with the aircraft. However, he explained that with the aircraft now at the CJIA, investigators will be able to better examine it with more resources being available.
On September 13, a Joint Service patrol discovered the illegal aircraft hidden just off of the Yupukari Airstrip, with United States registration N-767-Z.
Subsequently, a team of investigators from the GDF, Guyana Police Force (GPF), Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) and Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) was deployed from Georgetown to the area to conduct investigations and were able to determine that the registration number was bogus.
Moreover, investigators had discovered during interviews with nearby residents that the aircraft had been sighted circling the area on numerous occasions in the past.
Additionally, a number of residents shared information they deemed as “suspicious activity”, including the presence of motorcycles or ATVs frequenting the area at midnight.
Guyana Times was told by sources that a leak was discovered in the fuel tank. This, investigators believe, may have caused the aircraft to land in Guyana.
However, it has been reported that one of the local law enforcement agencies was aware of the aircraft at least three weeks before the disclosure was made. It was reported that the security officials were monitoring the aircraft to see if anyone would return to salvage it.
To this end, President David Granger has established a one-man Commission of Inquiry (CoI) to probe the discovery of the illegal aircraft and appointed retired Brigadier Edward Collins to investigate, examine, advise and report on all aspects under which the foreign aircraft had entered the country.