St Vincent’s Minister of National Security Ralph Gonsalves, in addressing the mystery aircraft N674JM that landed in Canouan on Monday, 25 November, says nothing came off, and nothing went on an aircraft while in Canouan.
“I received reports from Commissioner of Police Enville Williams and Andrea Best, Director of Civil Aviation; it was determined that the plane with registration number N674JM departed from the Dominican Republic before arriving here. And based on the intelligence, it was determined that the aircraft was bound for the Argyle International Airport (AIA)”.
Later, we discovered an error in the intelligence, leading us to believe that the aircraft was actually heading to Canouan. When we found out that it was in fact going to Canouan, the security forces were mobilized. They informed me that two or three passengers who had reservations at a guest house in Canouan disembarked from the aircraft, leading to a subsequent search of the plane. It may well be that something was to go on; I don’t know. Or there could have been compartments on the aircraft that were not searched, and in the absence of a canine unit, anything illegal could not have been detected. But if that is the case, that is somebody else’s challenge somewhere else,” Gonsalves said.
Gonsalves said the aircraft overnighted and remained under security surveillance until its departure the following day.
Gonsalves stated that the authorities became suspicious when they discovered the aircraft was similar to the one that vanished shortly after taking off from Canouan in December 2023.
