Colombian authorities bust four drug dealers transporting 242 POUNDS of cocaine in an ambulance while pretending to be paramedics and a COVID-19 patient
- Álvaro Felipe Peñaranda, Jorge Andrés Galván, Emilio Carrascal and Norly Julieth Pinzón were nabbed in Magdalena, Colombia, on Saturday
- The four suspects impersonated two paramedics, a coronavirus patient and family member to deliver 242 pounds of cocaine on an ambulance
- The Colombian National Police stopped the ambulance at a highway checkpoint in the Caribbean coast city of Santa Marta
- An inspection was done once the cops noticed that the driver of the vehicle had a strange reaction while he was questioned
- The drugs were hidden under a bench in the cabin where a man pretending to be a coronavirus patient was lying on a stretcher
- Police took the man to a local clinic where a doctor found that he was healthy
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Four people who impersonated paramedics and a coronavirus patient were arrested after traffic police officers in Colombia discovered 242 pounds of cocaine in the ambulance they were traveling in.
The incident unraveled Saturday at a highway checkpoint in Santa Marta, a city in the department of Magdalena off Colombia's Caribbean coast, when a cop walked over to the driver's window and detected his nervous reaction.
Officers then inspected the ambulance and discovered a massive load packages wrapped in duct tape that were concealed under the cabin's seating area.
Police in the Santa Marta, Colombia, discovered 242 pounds of cocaine hidden inside an ambulance operated by two individuals who were impersonating paramedics. The men were stopped at a checkpoint and told the police they were taking a male, who pretended to be infected with COVID-19. He was taken to a clinic where doctors said he was in good health
The Colombian police wanted to make sure that the man who was lying on a gurney was not infected with the coronavirus. He along with two men and a woman were taken into custody
A transit cop in Santa Marta, Colombia, talks to the driver of the ambulance shortly before he became suspicious of him and proceeded to check the vehicle, discovering 242 pounds of cocaine
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A video shared on social media by the Colombian National Police shows one of the agents slicing open of the bundles that proved to be cocaine.
The officers immediately apprehended two male individuals, who attempted to pass off as paramedics. They then transported the man, who was on a gurney, to a local clinic where a physician told the police that he indeed was healthy.
The suspects were identified as Álvaro Felipe Peñaranda, Jorge Andrés Galván, Emilio Carrascal and Norly Julieth Pinzón, who faked being the companion of the bogus patient.
'This person was wearing a child's catheter and it wasn't even connected,' the Colombian National Police said in a statement.
The confiscated drugs had a value of $2million in Colombia and were slated to be shipped overseas
The police said the four suspects traveled nearly eight hours from North Santander to Magdalena. The individuals tried to trick the police into believing that a man (pictured) who was lying on a stretcher inside the ambulance was indeed infected with COVID-19
The police said that the suspects traveled nearly eight hours on the ambulance which had emblems from Emiro Quintero Cañizares de Ocaña Hospital, located in the North Santander department near the border with Venezuela.
The suspects planned to deliver the drugs to Santa Marta and have it shipped overseas.
The police estimated the seized drug shipment's value at $2million.
