22/10/2013 09:23
Venezuela shoots down two 'hostile' planes
Venezuela says two light aircraft have been shot down after entering the country's airspace over the weekend, the BBC reported.
These were the first mid-air attacks by fighter jets since a bill authorising such action against illegal planes was approved earlier this month, the Bolivarian Armed Forces said.
The aircraft were allegedly smuggling drugs from Central America and refused to follow the military pilots' orders.
Another 11 unauthorised planes have been disabled on the ground this year.
Venezuelan security forces say more than 35 tonnes of drugs have been found this year.
The head of Venezuela's Strategic Operational Centre, General Vladimir Padrino Lopez, told the country's state television that a plane had been targeted after "all other means of persuasion had been exhausted" in the early hours of Saturday.
"This was the first plane shot mid-air in the country since the approval of the Law and Control Regulation for the Integral Defence of the National Airspace, following the orders of our commander-in-chief, President Nicolas Maduro," Gen Padrino said.
Another plane allegedly tried to evade the authorities by trying to land on an illegal airstrip in the jungle and was also shot down.
"These are drug trafficking mafias which intend to use our country as a platform for drug distribution, trespassing our airspace," the head of the National Anti-Drugs Agency, Alejandro Keleris Bucarito said, after posting a photo of the destroyed plane on Twitter.