"CEOFANB reports that the United Aerospace Defence Command detected an aircraft with a US hull number intruding Venezuelan airspace overnight 8 July and neutralized it with military jets according to protocols", the military said on Twitter.
🚨#ULTIMAHORA|| #CEOFANB informa que el @CODAI_FANB, detectó en la medianoche del #07JUL20 el ingreso de una Narcoaeronave con matrícula #EEUU a nuestro espacio aéreo y una vez aplicado el protocolo de Ley se procedió a su NEUTRALIZACIÓN con aeronaves de nuestra Aviación Militar. pic.twitter.com/6JtCVLj8bo
— @ceofanb (@Libertad020) July 8, 2020
Attached to the post were images of the "neutralized" plane on fire. One could read serial number N339AV on its tail.
According to Flightradar, it was a privately-owned Hawker 800 plane. Its latest registered flight route was in Mexico, from the central Toluca state to Cozumel island in the Caribbean.
There were no official details at this point on the incident's location and the plane's passengers and cargo, but such episodes are typical of illegal drug trafficking. A similar plane was downed by the Venezuelan military last month for purportedly carrying drugs.
In 2013, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro signed a law to down any plane belonging to narco-mafia that illegally crosses the country's airspace.
