A twin-engine plane thought to be transporting cocaine crashed June 13 in Honduras near the town of Los Lirios, Olancho department, during a pursuit by Honduran military helicopters and Super Tucano aircraft. The crash occurred in Honduras' sparsely populated east, where significant amounts of drugs arrive from South America by air and by sea. Honduran forces also shot down aircraft thought to be carrying drugs in 2003 and 2009, but the military's lack of radar coverage means drug-laden planes from Venezuela or Colombia generally can enter Honduran airspace unopposed. Drug smugglers have been landing planes in eastern Honduras since at least 2006, though local media reports suggest that the activity has increased significantly since 2009. Traffickers have built a network of runways in the region, and they enjoy the local population's loyalty, which makes government deterrence difficult. Once on the ground, the drugs are shipped by the Sinaloa Federation and Los Zetas — often through local proxies — north overland along Honduras' borders with Guatemala and El Salvador into Mexico for eventual sale in the United States.
