Video Shows Plane Smuggling Cocaine Crash In Sea Near Colombia

A small airplane reportedly carrying a ton of cocaine crashed into the Caribbean Sea as the Colombian air force tried to intercept it. Grainy, black-and-white video shows the twin-engine plane plummeting into the water on Wednesday.

In the aftermath, a dispute quickly emerged between Colombia and Venezuela about the plane's origins.

The pilot, whose body was recovered from the wreckage, was traveling with a Mexican passport, Reuters reported. The Hawker 800 aircraft held 1.2 metric tons of coke divided into one-kilogram packages, according to The Associated Press.

The Colombian and Venezuelan governments put out conflicting information about the plane and its flight.

The Colombian air force said Wednesday that the plane had taken off from Venezuela and was headed to somewhere in Central America. They blamed the crash on a motor failure when the pilot tried to evade the military planes that had ordered it to land, according to The Guardian.

Later, the Venezuelan defense minister said that the plane had originated in Central America and had landed in a remote part of Venezuela for a few hours. Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino said that his country's air force had shot at the plane when it took off again and then had alerted their Colombian counterparts to the trafficker.

H/T Vice