MANAGUA (AP):

Police on Nicaragua's Pacific Coast recorded the largest drug seizure in the nation's history, exchanging gunfire with 14 suspected smugglers and confiscating the three tons of cocaine they left behind when they fled, investigators said yesterday.

A phone tip before dawn Saturday sent a string of squad cars and police trucks to Pochomil, a rugged, volcanic-sand beach community 45 kilometres (30 miles) south-west of Managua, and a popular weekend getaway for residents of the capital.

Officials said police opened fire on a group of 14 men who were loading trucks with cocaine taken from a collection of small speedboats commonly known as go-fasts.

Those unloading the drugs returned the fire, but then fled, abandoning 145 sacks, each containing 20 packets of cocaine. No arrests were made, but authorities recovered 3,000 kilograms (6,600 pounds) of cocaine, a record seizure according to Nicaragua's National Police.

Police also recovered 12 machine guns inside the vehicle where the drugs had been loaded.