Twin-engine 'narco-jet' with more than €27 million worth of cocaine on board captured in Guatemala

Pictures show the luxury 'Gulfstream III' on the runway in a regional airport in the region of Peten with piles of the drugs lined up alongside.

It is believed that the cocaine weighing in at over one tonne was on its way to the Mexican Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) - one of the most powerful drug cartels in the world – when authorities intercepted the plane.

It has been reported the drugs were farmed in the Venezuelan border area by Colombia's revolutionary 'People's Army', otherwise known as the FARC, who the smuggled it north into Central America where it was supposed to be received by members of the cartel.

However, after the load had passed through a drug-trafficking complex in the rural region around the Colombian-Pacific port city Tumaco, authorities were alerted.

The 'Gulfstream III' business jet carrying the illicit shipment had than taken off from a secret runway in Venezuela, however, a combined operation between the Colombian Attorney General's Office (CAGO) and the US's Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) led to the eventual bust.

The CJNG criminal cartel is reportedly headed by a 55-year-old man named Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, otherwise known as 'El Mencho' (The Mind.)

El Mencho is reported to have increased the cartel’s presence in in Central and South America with the establishment of criminal routes, improved relations with other criminal groups, and the acquisition of specialised criminal intelligence.

His gang is also known to have increased its purchase and sale of merchandise in different countries.

The chief's arrest is valued at $10 million (£7.3 million) to the DEA website.

“Right now the CJNG is the most significant criminal threat to the United States of America,” the DEA has stated.

“The drug trafficking activities of this organization led to an increase in the distribution of methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin and fentanyl throughout the state of Florida.

“The tendency of this organization to acts of extreme violence to protect its criminal enterprise intensified the severity of the threat to our communities.”

Special Agent in Charge Kevin W Carter, of the Miami Division, added: “DEA Miami is aware of the danger that this organization represents. We will continue to centralize our efforts to combat its impact nationally and internationally, and protect the communities of the state of Florida from the damage and destruction of this criminal enterprise.”