BOGOTA – The Colombian navy detained two Nicaraguans who were sailing illegally in Colombia’s Caribbean waters, the military said.

The foreigners were surprised four miles west of the island of San Andres, the navy said after noting that the pair were on board a motorboat called the Easy One, which did not have any registration documents.

“The two individuals, upon noticing the presence of the maritime authorities, took flight, crashing the boat ... against the coral reef,” the navy added in a communique.

The navy said that the motorboat had set sail from Laguna de Perla, Nicaragua, and did not have permission to enter Colombian waters.

The coast guard units that examined the boat found about 40 gallons of gasoline and 44.6 kilograms of dry shrimp on board.

The Nicaraguans were turned over to the DAS security agency on San Andres, the largest of the Colombian three-island chain that lies off the coast of Nicaragua.

The island territory, located about 1,700 kilometers (1,054 miles) north of Bogota, is part of an area over which Managua claims sovereignty, after having declared an agreement on territorial borders signed in 1928 to be invalid and taking the case to the International Court of Justice in The Hague. EFE