In a disturbing case of a drug mule operation, a father made his 11-year-old daughter swallow 104 cocaine-filled capsules in a bid to smuggle drugs to Europe, police said Wednesday. The Colombian girl remains in critical condition after doctors removed nearly 1.2lbs of cocaine during a life-saving operation.

According to closed circuit television footage, the father and a relative were seen rushing the girl to a hospital in Santiago de Cali, Colombia, on Monday morning, then leaving coolly minutes later, the Associated Press reported. One of the cocaine packets had apparently burst into the girl's stomach, leaving her unconscious.

The capsules contained about a half-kilogram (more than a pound) of narcotics, police said, describing it to be the first time that a female was planning to be used as a drugs mule.

"In 30 years of service I've seen all kinds of strategies to smuggle drugs but nothing as reprehensible as this," Gen. Hoover Penilla, commander of the Cali police, told the AP.

Now police officials are hunting for the girl's father, who is accused of forcing her to swallow the toxic capsules against her will as a drug mule for a flight to Spain.

After raiding the suspect's house and finding a plane ticket to Madrid in the unidentified girl's name, police discovered that the pair were hours away from taking a flight to Madrid, after which the two would have continued to the Canary Islands.

On Wednesday night, detectives also questioned the youngster's mother, UK MailOnline reported.

"The girl underwent emergency surgery because of the risk to her life and 104 capsules that appear to be cocaine capsules were removed from her body," Penilla said.

"Everything is pointing to the fact this youngster was going to be used in a twisted way by adults as a drugs mule to transport drugs from Colombia to another country."

"They had flights reserved to travel from Cali to Bogota and then an onward connection Bogota to Madrid with a final destination of Gran Canaria," he added.

Jhon Arley Murillo, a spokesman for the Colombian Family Welfare Institute which is planning to take temporary custody of the schoolgirl, added, "A case like this is horrific because it puts the life of an 11-year-old girl at risk. We are going to take steps to offer her protection and remove her from her harmful family environment."

Meanwhile, the 11-year-old remains in intensive care at Cali's Valle del Lili Hospital, although her life is not said to be at risk.