Chile-bound cocaine seized on buses transporting soccer fans

Police say drugs were found in compartments under bus floors and under seats of both drivers

BOGOTA: Colombian police seized 575 kilogramme of cocaine bound for Chile on two buses carrying Colombia fans to a World Cup qualifying soccer match in Santiago.

Police made the discovery at the weekend in Pasto near Colombia’s southern border with Ecuador and about 400 km from Cali from where the buses set out on a road trip of more than 4,000 km across Ecuador and Peru to Chile.



"These drugs, hidden inside these buses, were bound for Santiago de Chile and the method of doing it was by transporting it through some tourists who were going to see the Colombia-Chile match," Major General Rodrigo Gonzalez, Commander of the Region Four National Police of Colombia, told reporters.

The drugs were found in compartments under the bus floors and under the seats of both drivers, who were arrested.



Chile host Colombia in Santiago on Thursday in a South American qualifier for the World Cup finals to be held in Russia in 2018.