The Colombian Navy has found two dead bodies while intercepting a cocaine smuggling vessel, it said in a March 12 statement.
The semi-submersible vessel was approximately 15 meters long, and was found to be transporting 2,643 kilograms of cocaine hydrochloride. It was operating off Colombia’s Pacific coast, bound for a transshipment hub in Central America.
On boarding, Colombian navy inspectors first found two subjects in poor health. The Navy reports that there appears to have been an accident due to the generation of toxic gas from the fuel. The two men were treated and transported to a ship that was in the area where they were given medical attention. The boarding team then found two bodies next to the cargo of drugs, presumed to be dead from inhalation of toxic gas.
The two individuals rescued, the bodies and the cache were transferred to the municipality of Tumaco – Nariño, where they were brought before the Technical Investigation Corps of the Attorney General’s Office, which confirmed that the seized substance was cocaine hydrochloride with an estimated street value of $87 million.