Santo Domingo.- Dominican Air Force commander ElvisMarcelino Felix on Thursday revealed that drug traffickers threaten and"try to penetrate our space every night."
He said the Super Tucano planes conduct nightly sorties in responseto alerts and calls for assistance from the Dominican Navy, since the greatest threatis at sea.
Interviewed at the Defense Ministry while attending a ceremonyin honor of founding father Ramon Matías Mella, Felix called Dominican Republic’sairspace "shielded."
"While Dominican society sleeps, Tucanos fly the skiespatrolling in pursuit of peace and tranquility for all."
Speedboats at sea
"We don’t let them (boats) reach not even 100 miles offour coast without being detected and if it’s the airspace, any suspectaircraft, has to necessarily be a blip, we’re immediately inthe air and if the threat is not real, we go home," the official said
He warned that the Tucanos are set in motion whenever there’sany suspicious aircraft.
He added that Tucanos take off, at least five days per week,in the afternoon or evening."
“Just by seeing a suspicious blip we’re in the air and sowe have a shielded space, as we say we have a shield by agreements we have withfriendly governments such as the case of Colombia which allow us to evenpenetrate their airspace until any suspicious plane is handed over to theiraircraft and vice versa."