Suspected drug plane crashes

QUITO (AP):

A Mexican-registered plane carrying two men, a large amount of cash and a dog has crashed in Ecuador and officials say they suspect the money may be related to drug trafficking.

The plane crashed into a hillside Sunday night near the western city of Perdernales.

Interior Minister Jose Serrano said in a TV interview yesterday that the plane evidently arrived in Ecuador on an illicit mission and the dead pilot and co-pilot were Mexican. He did not say how much money was found or in what currency. He said authorities had cordoned off the area.

Ecuador is a transit country for traffickers of cocaine produced in neighbouring Colombia. Mexican drug trafficking organisations smuggle the cocaine northward to the United States and send cash back.