The Armed Forces and the National Drug Control Department (DNCD) are investigating the origin of a small plane that appeared yesterday morning on the Autovia del Este road to La Romana, as well as the circumstances in which it was burned and whether the case has to do with drug trafficking as is suspected. The chief of the Armed Forces Intelligence Department, General Rafael Ramirez Ferreiras, said that investigations are under way by J-2 and DNCD officers who inspected the plane and the site where it appeared. He reported that the plane is totally burned, its registration number hardly visible and inside the plane loading mechanisms for AK-47 and M-16 weapons were found. They are trying to determine if the aircraft had brought drugs into the country. No drugs have been found in the plane as yet. The plane was burned near Villa Verde and San Carlos in La Romana. Two passers-by reported that they saw the plane landing between 12 midnight and 12:30 am and watched it being set on fire by people who had boarded the aircraft, and later left the scene in two SUVs. It is presumed that the plane was used in a drug trafficking operation.