NAKED DRUG-RUNNERS NABBED

BOGOTA (Reuters) - Talk about the gang that couldn't shoot straight! 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,
who may have sampled a bit too much of their own merchandise, were arrested
Wednesday in one of the wackiest drug busts in recent memory.

American sailors aboard the USS De Werth had spotted the men and 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 a clumsy attempt at cover up as the De Werth closed in on them, the
smugglers dumped 40 packets, each containing 50 pounds (22.5 kg) of
cocaine, into the water, the navy statement said.

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

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

According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration cocaine sells for
between $10,500 and $36,000 per kilogram (2.2 pounds) wholesale in the
United States.

That means that Wednesday's consignment from Colombia, by far the world's
leading supplier of cocaine, would have been worth up to $32.5 million if
it had made its way onto the U.S. market.