Bizarre: Colombian Navy Rescues Shipwrecked Smuggling Suspects Found Floating On Cocaine Bales

In a bizarre story reported by the Colombian Navy, personnel from the Colombian Navy and Coast Guard found drug smugglers clinging to cocaine bales in shark-infested Pacific Ocean waters after their vessel was hit by a rogue wave last week.

The incident occurred in the waters near Tumaco in Colombia, about 30 nautical miles from shore, said Captain Jorge Maldonado of Colombia’s Task Force Against Drug Trafficking.

Maldonado said navy and coast guard personnel were conducting surveillance and maritime control operations when they discovered the shipwreck. He said the smugglers were clinging onto cocaine hydrochloride bales for at least seven hours. In total, the navy and coast guard recovered 2,789 lbs of cocaine. 

“The coastguard arrived, and these three people were floating on a material that by its characteristics resembled drugs,” Maldonado said.

Footage of the rescue was posted on the official Twitter account of the Colombian Navy. Several pictures show three men floating in the water, surrounded by black bales of cocaine. Navy personnel can be seen tossing in life preserves to the smugglers. The men and the cocaine were eventually extracted from the water and hauled to a support base on land for further analysis.

La @ArmadaColombia logra el rescate de tres colombianos y la incautación de 1.265 kilogramos de clorhidrato de cocaína, en aguas del Pacífico colombiano. #FNP #ProtegemosElAzulDeLaBandera, Leer más 👉 https://t.co/Nnl8zBFhWw pic.twitter.com/6tkUTX3FWh

— Armada de Colombia (@ArmadaColombia) September 29, 2019

Maldonado said the floating bales tested positive for cocaine hydrochloride.

He said the smugglers were en route to Central America. It’s likely, he said, the men left the Port of Tumaco, which is one of the primary exit points of cocaine from the country.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNDOC) indicated in a 2018 report that, Colombia is the top producer of cocaine in the world.

A majority of the cocaine is smuggled by boat to the US. 

The UNDOC report also said Colombia’s 2018 cocaine output hit record highs as demand from the US soared.

Back in July, we reported on a container ship that had around $1 billion worth of cocaine hidden in containers at a Philadelphia port after having stopped in Colombia. We also learned the vessel, the MSC Gayane, is owned by JP Morgan, was seized by US authorities. 

And as long as stocks blast to new highs, partly funded by endless stock buybacks and easy money policies by the Federal Reserve, cocaine demand will continue to soar on Wall Street, giving Colombian drug cartels more of a reason to continue boosting output.