At least $1.3 million dollars in presumed Mexican drug cartel money has been recovered from the site of a light aircraft crash in western Ecuador that killed its two crew members, officials said.
The cash was found after authorities searched the rural area where the plane crashed, local police chief Ulises Parreno told AFP on Tuesday, saying the two crew were identified as Mexican and the plane was Mexico-registered.
Interior Minister Jose Serrano said the light aircraft typical of those used in drug trafficking operations, suggesting the money was part of a drug trafficking operation gone wrong.
Officials said it was flying at a low altitude with no lights, in an apparent bid to avoid radar detection, when it crashed into a hill near the town of Pedernales on the Pacific coast.