Drug traffickers caught smuggling half a TON of cocaine under SHARK CARCASSES on fishing boat off Costa Rica
The three men have no previous convictions
THREE men have been caught smuggling half a tonne of cocaine packed into coffee bags and hidden under the carcasses of dead SHARKS.
Costa Rican authorities arrested the trio off the coast of Quepos, in the western province of Puntarenas - and found a whopping 490kg of cocaine stashed on board the fishing boat.
The three suspected drug traffickers, identified as Velazquez Izaguirre, 47, Duarte Chavarria, 29, and Membreno Novoa, 65, reportedly hid the drugs in several bags - which a spokesman for the local Ministry of Public Security said were concealed under the dead fish.
The trio, who do not have any previous convictions, were said to be travelling from Ecuador to Costa Rica when they were stopped by coast guards around 81 miles off the coast.
According to local reports, the coastguard stop dozens of boats every day to examine documents and check crew members - often discovering illegal immigrants and contraband.