Cocaine found in water after Venezuela shoots down suspected drug plane

Venezuela's military has confirmed that it shot down a small civilian plane believed to be carrying drugs over the Caribbean Sea, and officials on the neighbouring island nation of Aruba said packets of cocaine were found near where it went down.

Venezuelan Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino defended Thursday's shoot-down, saying the plane had entered his country's airspace without permission and did not respond to orders to land immediately. He said the plane was heading from Central America and was shot down 46km off the coast near Aruba.

He did not provide any information about those who were on board.

Authorities in Aruba, which is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, said the US-registered aircraft crashed in the island's territorial waters.

Leading prosecutor Eric Olthof said that 400 packages holding cocaine were found near the crash site. He said some human remains also were recovered but it was too early to determine how many people were aboard the plane or who they were.

Venezuela has shot down a number of suspected drug-trafficking planes in recent years, mostly over the country's west.