Two Oceanside residents were arrested Thursday on suspicion of illegal transportation of narcotics after their single-engine plane made an emergency landing on state Route 76 near Canyon Drive, the Oceanside Police Department said.
At 1:43 a.m. officers responded to a call that a plane was experiencing engine failure and had to land immediately, according to a police statement.
The pilot of the Piper PA-28 Cherokee safely landed the single-engine aircraft on the eastbound side of the highway, police said.
The occupants, later identified as Gabriel Leon Breit, 21, and Troy Othneil Smith, 36, were not injured.
But as officers took stock of the situation, one of them said he saw Smith drop a backpack he was carrying into a patch of brush, “which obviously raised concerns,” Assistant Chief Taurino Valdovinos said.
Police then detained and searched the pair, allegedly finding a small quantity of cocaine on one of them. They also retrieved the discarded backpack, discovering about a kilogram of the drug inside it.
A search of the plane revealed a large quantity of narcotics, police said, prompting officers to take Breit and Smith into custody and book them into county jail in Vista. They are being held on suspicion of illegally transporting a controlled substance and participating in a criminal conspiracy.
The rented airplane, with Breit at the controls, came from Phoenix, Valdovinos said.
Police issued a warning about traffic in the area, tweeting: “Be advised, there is a small plane that landed on eastbound SR-76 at Canyon Drive, blocking the number 2 lane of traffic. Please proceed with caution.”
The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the circumstances of the landing.
City News Service contributed to this article.
Updated 4:30 p.m. Sept. 26, 2024
