Suspected Cocaine Smugglers Get Naked Off Colombia Coast

Seven naked drug runners were nabbed off Colombia’s coast after they dumped millions of dollars’ worth of cocaine into the ocean, doused themselves with gasoline and then rammed a U.S. Navy vessel with their speedboat, authorities said Thursday.

A statement from the Colombian navy said the kamikaze-style traffickers were arrested Wednesday in one of the wackiest drug busts in recent memory.

American sailors aboard the frigate De Wert had spotted the men aboard what they suspected to be their cocaine-laden boat while on routine patrol in international waters off Colombia’s main Pacific coast port of Buenaventura, the statement said.

In an apparent attempt at a cover-up as the De Wert closed in on them, the smugglers dumped 40 packets, each containing 50 pounds of cocaine, into the water, the navy statement said.

It said they then stripped naked and poured gasoline over themselves, apparently to wash off any traces of the white-powder drug. And in an attempt to get rid of their boat, along with any other telltale signs of illicit cargo, the men then tried to sink it by plowing into the De Wert, the statement said.

The navy said that the cocaine was recovered and that the smugglers, one of whom was injured in the high-seas collision, were taken into custody. They were identified as six Colombians and a Nicaraguan.