Police nab girl: At 11, she is Colombia's youngest drug mule

Police say they have caught Colombia’s youngest drug mule after an 11-year-old girl underwent surgery to have more than 100 capsules removed from her stomach.

The unnamed child is in hospital under guard in Cali, western Colombia, after the failed attempt to smuggle the drugs – hidden in capsules – to Europe.

"She is out of surgery after 104 capsules were removed, which at the moment are being tested to determine what illegal drug it was," Cali police commander Hoover Penilla said on Tuesday (Nov 18).

The girl was being used as a mule to move up to 600 grams of drugs to Europe, said the policeman, calling her the youngest mule that Colombian cops have caught.

"All signs suggest that... she was being used in this twisted way by adults," he added.

Hunt on for father

The girl’s parents are separated.

Her mother says her child was with the father for a weekend.

She returned to the mother’s home and felt queasy at night.

When she still felt unwell in the morning, she was taken to the hospital - where horrific stash was uncovered.

Authorities are now hunting for the 11-year-old's father. 

Colombia is one of the world’s top exporters of cocaine, along with Peru, according to UN data. -AFP