31 Jan 2011

Colombian navy seizes boat full of cocaine

6:36 pm on 31 January 2011

The Colombian navy says it has seized a boat smuggling more than a tonne of cocaine.

Navy personnel chased the speed boat along the Pacific coast of Choco province, the BBC reports.

Two of its occupants jumped from the ship and escaped, a third man was arrested.

A navy official says that so far this year his force has seized two tonnes of cocaine in Pacific waters alone.

Drug-traffickers often use the dense jungle areas of Choco to launch boats loaded with drugs heading for Panama and beyond.