$M coke find may have come from downed plane

A PART of the fuselage of a light Cessna propeller aircraft discovered washed ashore on the Moruga beach early yesterday morning, is said to be the latest link to the $17 million cocaine find in the area recently. Police believe the discovery of the mangled wreck of part of the aircraft opens up a frightening new episode in the saga of the mysterious washing ashore on the Gran Chemin beach on August 25, of 15 kilos of cocaine wrapped in plastic bags and the washing ashore of three bodies. Up to late yesterday, a combined team of members of the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard and Police were combing the Moruga seas for the remaining parts of what is possibly a white aircraft.

It was around 6 am when a party of policemen who have been keeping vigil on the beaches, spotted what seemed like a piece of white metal floating between the beach area and where the tide broke, at La Retreat beach. The police party was headed by Cpl Alpheus and included PCs Sookhai, Taylor, Jairaj, Williams and Friday. Upon checking, the policemen observed that the wreckage, part of which was stuck in the sand, resembled part of an aircraft. Within minutes, ASP Desmond Lambert headed a party of senior policemen to the scene which included ASP Dyo Mohammed. Scores of fishermen and villagers of La Retreat had already gathered on the beach but police kept them at bay, refusing to let anyone near the object.
  
Lambert ordered that the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) be called in. Around mid-morning, three officers of the CAA arrived on the beach and upon conducting an inspection, confirmed to police that the wreck was part of the fuselage of a single-engine Cessna aircraft. The CAA officers refused to even divulge their names or give details about the mangled fuselage except to confirm that it was part of the body of an aircraft that had broken off upon impact on the sea from a very high altitude. The wreck, which was white in colour, measured about 16 feet in length and had the words “DEFENCE ORBITAL.”  Below the writing, was an insignia: “ARIANE SPACE.” The words were written in red with blue stars. According to police, the origin of the aircraft could not be determined up to late yesterday.

Lambert told Sunday Newsday that speculation was rife that the latest find was linked to the cocaine discovery last month at the Gran Chemin beach. Three bodies were subsequently washed ashore, two in Gran Chemin and the other at Chaguaramas. Police are working on the theory that the dead persons were more than likely passengers in the aircraft. The La Retreat beach where up to late yesterday the fuselage remained under police guard, is about five miles east of the Gran Chemin beach where the cocaine washed ashore.