CARACAS, (Reuters) – Venezuelan authorities found four tonnes of cocaine buried on a ranch on Thursday after stopping a plane presumably on its way from Mexico to pick up the illegal drug haul, state media said.
“This is the biggest haul in the last few years in Venezuela,” Interior Minister Tareck El Aissami said. He added that soldiers were still searching the area in central Guarico state to see if more cocaine was stashed there.
Two Venezuelan air force F-16 fighter jets intercepted a King-200 commercial aircraft late on Wednesday, forcing it to land near the ranch, authorities said.
The crew fled, but belongings in the plane indicated they were Mexican, state media said. The cocaine was later found on the property, leading authorities to conclude Mexican traffickers were en route to pick it up.
