Cash Stash on Crashed Plane in Ecuador A Mexican-registered plane carrying two men, a large amount of cash and a dog has crashed in Ecuador and officials say they suspect the money may be related to drug trafficking. The plane crashed into a hillside Sunday night near the western city of Perdernales Interior Minister Jose Serrano said in a TV interview Monday that the plane evidently arrived in Ecuador on an illicit mission and the dead pilot and copilot were Mexican. He did not say how much money was found or in what currency. He said authorities had cordoned off the area. Ecuador is a transit country for traffickers of cocaine produced in neighboring Colombia. Mexican drug trafficking organizations smuggle the cocaine northward to the United States and send cash back.