The child, whose identity has not been disclosed, was stopped by police in the Caribbean when authorities discovered she had over 100 capsules of cocaine in her stomach.
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She was hours away from boarding a flight to Madrid with her father when one of the capsules hidden inside her stomach had exploded, flooding her system with the Class A drug.
The 11-year-old was quickly rushed to a hospital in the Caribbean city of Cali by her father and another relative, where she underwent a life saving operation.
But, while his little girl was under anaesthetic, the father calmly walked out of the hospital and disappeared, abandoning her.
Police chief Hoover Penilla said: “Everything is pointing to the fact this youngster was going to be used in a twisted way by adults as a drug mule to transport drugs from Colombia to another country.
"They had flights reserved to travel from Cali to Bogota…with a final destination of Gran Canaria.”
He added to The Associated Press: "In 30 years of service I’ve seen all kinds of strategies to smuggle drugs but nothing as reprehensible as this."
The little girl remains in intensive care, although her life is no longer at risk, and Colombia’s child welfare institute says it will take custody of her in a bid to remove her from her harmful family environment.
Police are still searching for her father.