Plane stolen from Boundary County Airport

An airplane was stolen from the Boundary County Airport early today. The heist is the latest move in a series of mysterious activity near the United States and Canada border in the past week. The Creston, B.C., airport reported burglaries over the weekend. Handguns, food, beer and other supplies were stolen, along with an attempt to take another plane. Authorities think the same group broke into the Boundary County Airport on Sunday night before returning late Monday or early today to take a 2005 Cessna model T182T, said Jessica Short, airport office manager. “It’s a really nice, brand new, $340,000 plane,” Short said. The owner of the plane, who lives in Bonners Ferry, bought a large padlock for the hangar after Sunday night’s break-in, Short said, but it didn’t deter the thieves. “They have to have some kind of intelligence to steal an airplane without keys,” Short said. A construction crew working near the airport saw the plane take off flying south about 5:45 a.m. Investigators don’t know where the plane was headed or how many people were involved in the theft, according to the Boundary County Sheriff’s Office. The U.S Border Patrol is investigating. The plane is a white and blue fixed-wing, single-engine model, tail number N2183P.