Agents seek plane reportedly crashed near isolated stretch of highway

Pedernales, Dominican Republic.- Various law enforcement agencies actively search for a small plane that reportedly crashed in a rugged area near the village of Las Mercedes, next to the surprisingly wide highway that leads to Hoyo de Pelempito canyon (southwest).

Antinarcotics (DNCD), Army Intelligence and Border Security (CESFRONT) agents were sent to the area early Wednesday, on information of that a small aircraft likely went down in the Sierra de Baoruco National Park.

According to unofficial reports from the community, its residents heard aircraft engines, but then went silent near the farming area known as Los Brocosis.

The area just northeast of Pedernales is notorious for drug airdrops from planes form Colombia and Venezuela, and just recently the wreckage of two aircraft were found with more than 90 kilos of cocaine, with both occupants killed two the two occasions.

The 47-kilometer highway built in 2003, from Cabo Rojo to Pelempito canyon is surprisingly wide enough for four lanes in most spans, and it’s suspected that drug-laden planes use it often to smuggle narcotics.