BOGOTA – Colombian police reported Tuesday the arrest of five people who were riding in an ambulance as if on a medical mission, while the true purpose of their trip was to transport 214 kilos (470 pounds) of cocaine to the northern part of the country.
“Inside the ambulance, assigned to the southwestern municipality of Puerto Caicedo, was the driver with a doctor, an operating room nurse, a general nurse and a patient; we can say it came with the whole kit,” the chief of police, Gen. Rodolfo Palomino, told a press conference in Bogota.
The operation was carried out in a rural area of Cimitarra municipality in the northeastern province of Santander.
Found riding in the ambulance, which had started out from Putumayo province on the Ecuadorian border, was Dr. Edgardo Figueroa, candidate for mayor of Puerto Caicedo in the upcoming Oct. 25 elections, according to a police communique.
Palomino said the cops’ suspicions were aroused because it is unusual to find an ambulance on a route that “practically crosses the whole country.”
The police chief added that upon inspecting the vehicle they found the drug cache inside it.
The ambulance was identified with Medical Mission emblems that made it easier to get past the authorities and through traffic, the authorities said.
“All the occupants knew what kind of cargo they were hiding, and though the whole act seemed perfect, they failed to tell the same story during the search,” the police said in a communique.
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