BRASILIA - Brazilian federal police fired on a plane carrying suspected drug traffickers, killing one person aboard, police said Monday.
Police said they fired on the plane on Sunday after it dumped about half a tonne of marijuana. The plane had landed and was attempting to take off again to avoid police who had closed in on an air strip near Santana do Livramento, a town on the border with Uruguay.
Police said that of the two people on board the plane, one was killed and one injured.
"As a result of the confrontation, the pilot of the plane, Alcides Correa da Costa, 65, died," police said.
"As they charged land vehicles, the traffickers, as they tried to take off again, created the possibility of a collision with a Military Police plane and their own plane in the escape route, which endangered the lives of the police participating in the deployment," police said.
"The plane probably came from Paraguay," a Brazilian police spokesman told AFP. "They must have thrown the drugs into Uruguayan territory and wanted to fill up with fuel for the return.
"But the police were waiting when it landed and a military plane was landing to support the operation," added the spokesman.
"The traffickers tried to take off again to escape but they were fired on for violating air safety regulations that say a landing craft has priority over one taking off."
Police named the dead man as pilot Alcides Correa Da Costa, a 65-year-old Brazilian. The other person aboard, Lauter Veroni Rojensk, 50, was slightly injured and detained.
Police said they had found remains of marijuana on board, a .38 caliber pistol with the serial number removed and said the plane had been carrying marijuana to the Tacuarembo region in northern Uruguay.
Investigators said they had found global positioning satellite equipment with coordinates for Uruguayan territory where the marijuana had been jettisoned.
The plane had taken off from Ponta Pora, 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) to the north, near the Paraguayan border, police said.
Last year the Brazilian government passed a law allowing for the downing of planes entering Brazilian airspace without approval. The police spokesman said however that this law was not being invoked to justify the downing of the plane at Santana do Livramento.
Police had said earlier that the suspected drug plan had been shot down.
04/18/2005 20:46 GMT