The director of Civil Aviation Board, Norge Botello told reporters from Hoy newspaper that he “didn’t know about the number of illegal flights” that take place in Dominican airspace. Botello excused himself by saying that it was the Armed Forces and the Dominican security forces responsibility to watch out for these things. Botello said that he knew that there were illegal flights across Dominican airspace, but it was thanks to the press that he found out that there were as many as 200 flights per year. He said he felt that they certainly posed a threat to national security. Botello pointed out that his people are responsible for providing internal security at Dominican airports and that he was fully prepared to cooperate with the Armed Forces in any way that he could. He indicated that the Armed Forces had the sophisticated equipment necessary to track these flights, and that his organization lacked such equipment.