U.S. stops "narco sub" with $180M of cocaine

MIAMI - The U.S. Coast Guard says its crews helped stop a semi-submersible craft filled with $180 million of cocaine in the western Caribbean.

According to CBS-4 in Miami, the so-called "narco submarine" was used by Colombian drug cartel members to export cocaine into the United States. (See video of the Coast Guard interdiction below).

The Coast Guard said Monday that with help from a U.S. Customs and Border Protection airplane, its cutter located the submarine-like craft Tuesday off the coast of Honduras near the Nicaraguan border. The Coast Guard, FBI dive teams and the Honduran navy had been searching for the vessel for more than 10 days.

The Coast Guard says the vessel sank, but not before an FBI dive team could recover nearly 7.5 tons of cocaine worth roughly $180 million.

Drug traffickers design self-propelled semi-submersible (SPSS) crafts to rapidly sink when they detect law enforcement which makes contraband recovery difficult, according to the Coast Guard, CBS-4 reports.

The drugs and five crew members aboard the semi-submersible were turned over to U.S. law enforcement.

SPSS crafts are regularly used to smuggle drugs along Central America's Pacific Coast.

Built in the FARC-controlled jungles of Colombia, the typical SPSS is less than 100 feet in length, with 4-5 crewmembers, and carries up to 10 metric tons of illicit cargo for distances up to 5,000 miles.

These types of subs are responsible for the movement of nearly one-third of all cocaine between Colombia, Mexico and the U.S.

This was the first interdiction of an SPSS in the Caribbean and the first underwater drug removal of an SPSS.

[aliciaFe]

This is a great job for the United States Coast Guard. It's the 1st time that the United States Coast Guard stopped a "narco sub", a homemade submersible that narcotic smugglers use to carry cocaine, in transit in the Caribbean . Drug-running submarines were once the stuff of fairy tale and legend, but now have been found regularly. People are just trying to make <a title="Installment Loan" href="http://personalmoneynetwork.com/installment-loans/">installment loans</a> off of them.

[AmazingGrce]

How about we fly the stuff back to Colombia and spray it over the major cities. After a few passes over 3-5 days we can have their folks so hooked on the stuff they won't have enough to export. Let them feed their own folks that Cr*p and get hooked.

[lucifersshadow]

This really begs the question - Who has 180 million dollars to spend on this? . . . . in times like this . . . . Who? . . . . Who would have that kind of cash? . . . . the rich. It certainly is not the average middle-class homeowner, or his/her home would be gone in a flash, snorted up their nose. No wonder they are worried about being taxed, it would cut into their coke supply!

[joule18]

Now, here we go with the "rich" argument. There are plenty of middle and lower income people that will spring for $50 worth of ther stuff every day.

[mecanik-2009]

Good job!

[Threewarriors]

I figured out a new way to smuggle drugs. Regular, normal looking fishing boat, but underneath a towed submersible full of cocaine. Underneath the boat, the sub cant be seen. Partially inflatable, but if the feds come a calling, then release the submersible and have an explosive device detonate a hole to sink it. This will work and is the new coming technique. There are so many ways to smuggle drugs into a country, but its not my cup of tea and neither are legal or illegal drugs.

[bajajohn1]

The President has called for innovation and you are up there with the guy who invented the steamboat.

[bajajohn1]

Maybe if they would let it come in, it would have helped the economy. Legalize the ***** if Americans demand the product.

[lucifersshadow]

writious_prose - I have a different view of it . . . legalize it, let the idiots who want to burn their brains out on it do so, and get it over with. It is economics, and a war that you can never win by prohibition. Simple Supply vs demand. Increase the supply so much that the drug dealers can't make money off of it, and it is gone. Show pictures on TV of the people who have ruined their lives, and you will get the same result as the anti-smoking campaigns do. Not perfect, but you take the money out of it, and you get rid of the problem.
You cannot tell me that 50 years of trying the same prohibition over and over has succeeded . . . Einstein said something regarding trying the same experiment over and over again and expecting different results is madness. History has proven prohibition to have always failed. How long are we going to enrich other countries by buying their drugs, send money to countries like Pakistan, and police the world for them, and expect our nation to stay afloat? Can we get any stupider? I suppose so . . .

[documemts]

Narco Sub!, Narco Sub!, Narco Sub!, Narco Sub!, Narco Sub!, Narco Sub! Narco Sub!, Narco Sub!, Narco Sub, Awaaaaaaaaaaay!!!!!!!!!

[ksbfree]

probably be sold by those who have precession of it now.

[karek40]

This will result in an escalation of drug smuggling technology. There is to much money at stake to roll over and do nothing. Wonder if they will offer cash for suggestions lol.

[AnnieDanny]

I've come to the conclusion that people who do drugs are possibly more responsible than the ones who distribute it. If there was no market, there'd be no supply. The drug cartel would move on to more profitable illegal ventures. Maybe there wouldn't be quite as much crime, maybe some people in those countries that supply cocaine would get a real job instead.

The negative social and cultural aspects of doing drugs aren't addressed, as far as I know - but I think they should be.

[displeased2]

You will also need to consider the positive social and cultural aspects of doing drugs.