QUITO, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) -- Ecuadorian police discovered 637 kilos of marijuana stashed on the Colombian bus that crashed outside Quito, killing 24, a top official said on Friday.
The drugs had "a value of 1.7 million U.S. dollars," Ruth Palacios, Ecuador's acting attorney general, told reporters at a press conference.
An investigation will be conducted to find out the source and destination of the drugs, in addition to the ongoing investigation to determine the causes of the accident, she said.
Carlos Alulema, director of the national anti-narcotics agency, told reporters the marijuana was detected by sniffer dogs and would have been "almost impossible" to uncover in a routine border control check due to the elaborate concealment methods used.
The packaged drugs, found in four hiding places in the bus, which belonged to Colombian company Cotrans Especiales del Oriente, were marked with the words "knight, gift and king."
The public prosecutor has opened a culpable homicide case against the bus driver, who survived, and there will be ongoing cooperation with the Colombian police, Alulema added.
The predawn accident occurred around 3 a.m. on Tuesday along a stretch of roadway known as "deadman's curve."
The bus, carrying some 38 passengers, reportedly crashed into a passenger car, turned over, skidded and struck three homes by the side of the road before coming to a stop. Preliminary reports suggest the bus' brakes crystallized.
In addition to the 24 lives lost, 22 people were injured.
Following the tragic accident, Ecuador's President Lenin Moreno fired three directors of transit.
