The drug industry never sleeps. Some of the feats that drug traffickers pull off to get their product to consumers are nothing short of extraordinary. This one right here though, was a pretty epic fail, deserving of its very own episode in Netflix hit show Narcos. Last week, three men were found by the Colombian Navy, floating in the shark-infested waters of the Pacific using bales of cocaine to stay afloat off the coast of Tumaco, Colombia.

Three drug traffickers who had been floating for hours on packets of waterproofed cocaine were found by Colombian Navy officials.

The bizarre encounter happened 30 miles into the ocean on Colombia’s Pacific coast. The three men, suspected drug traffickers, had been floating among a total of 1,265 kilograms (2,789 lbs) of cocaine hydrochloride for severn hours after their boat was hit by a wave and capsized, according to a statement from the Navy. A spokesman for the coastguard said: “These three people were floating on a material that by its characteristics resembled drugs.”

During a search and rescue operation, officials spotted the castaways and helped them aboard, only to find that they were floating on $50 million dollars worth of cocaine.

Officials spotted the trio floating on packages of different sizes, during a search and rescue operation and promptly went to the rescue. Footage of the incident shows navy officers throwing life belts to the three men from a coastguard ship. Once the men, who were confirmed to be Colombian nationals, and the packages which were waterproofed and weighed over a ton altogether, had been taken safely to shore, chemical tests were carried out. 

“The Colombian Armada secured the rescue of three Colombian nationals and seizure of 1,265 kilograms of cocaine hydrochloride in waters of the Colombian Pacific” read a tweet by the Colombian Navy.

It was determined that the packages in fact, contained cocaine hydrochloride. The total seizure had a street value, in the United States, of about $50 million. The three unlucky castaways were turned over to prosecutors and are now facing charges for the trafficking, manufacturing and possession of narcotics. 

The men and their vessel were “Very possibly…on their way to Central America,” Captain Jorge Maldonado of Colombia’s Task Force against Drug Trafficking told Agence France-Presse. The search continues for a fourth individual whom the men say was with them. He is still missing.

According to the UN, large amounts of Colombian Cocaine is smuggled to the U.S. by sea through Central America and the Caribbean.

According to the UNDOC (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime), cocaine is typically transported from Colombia to Mexico or Central America by sea and then onwards by land to the United States and Canada, often in container shipments. Colombia remains the main source of the cocaine found, but direct shipments from Peru and the Plurinational State of Bolivia are far more common than in the United States market. A study conducted by the UNDOC found that Colombia is the leading manufacturer of cocaine in the world, while the U.S. is home to the majority of cocaine users. 

Just this year NYC authorities secured the largest cocaine seize in history.

Earlier this year, in March, authorities at the Port of New York and New Jersey seized around 3,200 pounds of cocaine, making it the largest cocaine seizure at the port in nearly twenty five years, and the second of all time, authorities say. The drugs, which had an estimated street value of $77 million, were found  in a shipping container which entered the U.S. from Buenaventura, Colombia. 

In January, US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo vowed the US will work with Colombia to decrease production of coca, the plant used to manufacture cocaine, by 50% by 2023.

Yesterday saw police in Colombia arrest two people in connection to the death of Orley García, the mayoral candidate for the municipality of Toledo. But the wildest thing is that García isn’t the first mayoral candidate to have been killed this election cycle in Colombia. In fact, he’s actually the sixth. 

The most heartbreaking death was that of Karina García.

The 32-year-old was running to be the first female mayor in the rural municipality of Toledo when she was attacked. Following a day of campaigning on September 1, García was returning to her hometown of Suarez when the car she was traveling in was shot at, before being set on fire. Six people died from the attack, including García’s mother, three local activists and a candidate for the municipal council, who were also in the car at the time. According to authorities, a grenade was used in the attack. Somehow, though, García’s bodyguard, who was driving the vehicle, survived.

Before she was killed, Karina reported receiving threats and asked for security.

A reward of almost $44,000 has been offered for information leading to the capture of the dissidents who were responsible for the murder of Karina García, who is survived by her husband and three year old son. It seems like a case of too little, too late, though, as García had already reported to authorities that she was on the receiving end of death threats. It was only in August that four armed men confronted members of her campaign, ordering them to take down banners and posters supporting her candidacy. García took to social media, calling on authorities to protect her and her fellow candidates against harm. “Please, for God’s sake, don’t act so irresponsibly,” she said in a video posted to Facebook on August 24. “This can bring fatal consequences for me.”

Authorities are blaming the killings on FARC rebels.

And just who are FARC? The Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, on the most fundamental level, are a guerilla movement that began in 1964. Motivated by Marxist-Leninist leanings, on paper they’re a peasant force that promotes anti-imperialism. However, what this means in practice is that they kidnap, ransom, drug run and extort their way into opposing Colombian authorities and consolidating power. By the time 2016 rolled around though, the group was running out of steam. This led to a ceasefire accord between FARC and the President of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos. June 2017 saw FARC hand over its weapons to the United Nations.

Yes, FARC legitimized itself legally but several dissidents disagree with that decision.

Obviously, that’s not the end of the story. Despite the peace deal, and despite the fact that FARC had officially announced its transformation into a legal, political party, there are still plenty of dissidents out there who disagree with the change and still operate under the original FARC doctrine. What’s most likely sparked the recent mayoral candidate killings is FARC’s announcement, on Youtube no less, that it’s resorting to violence due to the Colombian government’s failure to comply with the peace agreements from 2016. Of course, Colombian officials heartily disagreed with this statement, and responded with offensive strikes against FARC.

This has basically turned into tic for tac killing.

And the repercussions of the violence and killings are far-reaching. Beyond the devastated friends and family left behind, this also spells trouble for the democratic process in Colombia. Because who’s going to risk running for office, if they’re risking not only their own life, but the lives of their friends, family and coworkers? And who’s going to even consider turning up to vote, when the candidates themselves are being murdered, left, right, and center? It’s hard to conceive of cultural and legislative change in a country where part of what needs to be changed is what’s preventing change in the first place.

The other thing to keep in mind is that this is the exact kind of violence that people are fleeing when they arrive at the US border and make an appeal for asylum.

It’s a legitimate fear: the operation of gangs and cartels negatively impacts on the safety of the citizenry, as well as influencing the way that the entire country can be governed. However, because US legislation under the Trump administration states that asylum seekers cannot be granted refuge against gang violence, it means that these people have no choice but to go back to their country of origin and continue to risk theirs and their family’s lives. Something’s gotta give – otherwise, we’re going to see a lot more deaths at the hands of these gangs.

At this stage, we can only keep our eyes peeled for more news coming out from Colombia, as the elections are to be held October 27, across almost 1,100 municipalities. Unfortunately, with the murder of the sixth mayoral candidate in Colombia, this marks an even more violent election season than that of 2015, which saw the deaths of five mayoral candidates.