Bogota - A bus that crashed in Ecuador this week killing 24
people was carrying 80 kilograms of cocaine, Colombian authorities
said Thursday.
The drug was hidden under false floors, the attorney general's office
said.
Another 20 people were seriously injured when the bus, which was
travelling from Colombia, crashed into another vehicle around 40
kilometres east of Quito on Tuesday and tipped over.
Colombian police said the passengers, who were mostly Colombians as
well as some Venezuelans and Ecuadorians, had been used as a
distraction to mislead authorities.
Relatives of the victims told Colombia's El Tiempo newspaper that
they had been invited on the trip for free and that it was to go as
far as Peru.
The paper also reported that the bus, which belonged to Colombian
transport company Cotrans, did not have the proper permits to travel
outside the country.
A spokesman for the company confirmed that the vehicle was affiliated
with Cotrans but said it had not authorized the trip abroad.