Colombian police announced Tuesday the seizure of 2.2 tons of cocaine and the arrest of eight men in two separate operations in international waters between Colombia and Central America, reported El Espectador.
Colombian authorities, in collaboration with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Admistration (DEA), intercepted two speedboats loaded with the illegal drug; the first not far from the Honduran coast, and the second off the Pacific coast, close to Panama.
The second boat was reportedly pursued by the U.S. Coast Guard, eventually causing the crew to abandon the vessel near Panama’s Punta Caracol.
The deputy director of Colombia’s narcotics police, Colonel Jose Angel Mendoza, said that the operation took place over the weekend. Among those detained were four Honduran and four Colombian nationals.
The four Colombian detainees, who were arrested aboard the second of the two boats, are being held in Panama awaiting a decision on whether they will be deported to Bogota to stand trial.
It is suspected that the illegal drugs were destined for the U.S.