BOGOTA, Oct 1 (Reuters) - Colombian police were tipped off on Monday to the early morning murders of eight cocaine laboratory workers when relatives of the victims showed up at an undertaker in a southern town asking for coffins.

"We did not find out about this until they came to a funeral home and asked for eight caskets. That drew our attention," Putumayo province police commander Harold Lara told Reuters.

The province, near Ecuador, is a key cocaine production area where leftist rebels and a mosaic of drug gangs fight over lucrative smuggling routes.

The gunshot murders in the town of Puerto Asis appeared to be part of a robbery in which one trafficking group stole coca base, used to make cocaine, from another, Lara said.

"It was Monday morning and they had been in production all weekend. So there was a lot of base there to be taken," Lara said.

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