Picture used for illustrative purpose only.

Three suspected drug smugglers whose boat capsized off the Colombian coast saved themselves from drowning by clinging to their floating bales of cocaine.

The trio were rescued after seven hours of using their illegal cargo as makeshift life rafts in the shark-infested waters of the Pacific Ocean.

But things went from bad to worse for the alleged hapless couriers when it turned out their saviours were army officers, who had one or two questions about the unusual flotilla of black boxes.

Investigations revealed they contained some 1.2 tonnes of cocaine hydrochloride.

The men have now been charged with drug trafficking and manufacturing narcotics.

“The coastguard arrived and these three people were floating on a material that by its characteristics resembled drugs,” said Captain Maldonado of Colombia’s Task Force Against Drug Trafficking. “Very possibly they were on their way to Central America.”

The port of Tumaco, which the men were 30 miles offshore from, is one of the main conduits for drugs exiting Colombia for Central America and the US.

The Independent