Plane discovered in flames with abandoned cocaine worth $4.8 million

A private jet belonging to smuglers was gutted by fire after it landed on a rural in Mexico on Monday.

The Mexican Defence Department deployed two military jets to trail the plane, which flew from South America into the Mexican airspace.

The plane was forced to make an emergency landing on the road of Quintana Roo in Southern Mexico, an area that is home to lots of tourist atrractions.

Not too far from where the plane was, a truck was found, stacked with 13 parcels of cocaine each weighing about 30kg, that worth around 109 million Mexican Pesos ($4.8 million).

Officials say the drugs were loaded from the plane to the truck and the smugglers either set the plane on fire, or the plane caught fire during the emergency landing.

The plane, according to an Aircraft website, is identified as a BAe-125 15-seater passenger jet.

Mexican smugglers are notorious for setting their planes or vehicles on fire if they are intercepted by the authorities.