During a joint operation the Colombian Navy and Air Force identified a drug trafficking plane and subsequently engaged in a gun fight with the plane’s crew upon its landing.
The light aircraft was detected on Sunday over the Colombian Pacific coming from Central America. Authorities in the western department of Choco discovered the aircraft before its landing since the plane had no flight plan and a fake American registry number, according to newspapaer El Espectador.
The plane landed in an airstrip in the Choco rain forest where Colombian Navy allegedly had an armed confrontation with the flight’s crew. The crew somehow managed to escape, abandoning the plane.
Newspaper El Tiempo reported that the plane was meant to pick up a shipment of “at least 600 kilos of cocaine” from Choco.
Authorities are searching for the missing crew and the cocaine destined for Central America.