Cocaine Submarine Pictures: New Seizure Shows Advances

Cocaine Submarine Seized July 2
Photograph from Reuters
Ecuadorian police pose atop what U.S. officials called a "game changing"submarine built by drug smugglers on July 2 near the town of San Lorenzo (map), just south of the Colombian border.

Unlike previous known "cocaine subs," which could dip only just below the surface, the illegal craft appears capable of diving as deep as 65 feet (20 meters).
Seized before its maiden voyage, the 98-foot-long (30-meter-long) fiberglass sub was big enough to hold six to ten tons of cocaine and six crew members. The remote swamp camp where it was built was outfitted for up to 50 workers, though only 1 was present at the time of the raid.
With a ballast system never before seen in a cocaine sub, the handmade sub suggests smugglers are rapidly improving on the more common, semisubmersible designs, which are already difficult to detect.
"It's obviously an eye-opener," said Michael Braun, a former chief of operations with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), which assisted in the seizure operation.
"There's been a lot of speculation," said Braun, now with Spectre Group International, a private security company. "But now there's direct evidence that the bad guys have the ability to build these things and put them into service."
(Related: Get cocaine-submarine pictures and facts from the National Geographic Channel.)
Published July 13, 2010
Cocaine Torpedo
Photograph by Jaime Saldarriaga, Reuters
Much more primitive than the fully submersible cocaine submarine seized on July 2, unmanned "torpedo subs"—like this one seized in Buenaventura, Colombia, in 2008—are filled with contraband and towed underwater behind a fishing boat, doctor and former smuggler Miguel Angel Montoya said in the online documentary Colombian Narcosubs.
If approached, smugglers can simply cut a torpedo loose and let it sink—a tactic used by crews of all types of narco-subs. Because most manned cocaine subs stay at the surface, a crew can quickly escape into a raft while scuttling the ship.
The simple torpedo sub, though, may be in for a high-tech makeover too. Remote control cocaine torpedoes are believed to be in the works, according to Montoya.
(Watch cocaine-submarine videos.)
Published July 13, 2010
Cocaine-Sub Stash
Photograph by Eder Lopez, Reuters
Six tons of cocaine—from a 32-foot-long (10-meter-long) cocaine submarine seized off Mexico's Pacific coast—sit on a Salina Cruz (map) dock in 2008.
A typical cocaine sub—most of which are never discovered—can carry four to ten tons of the drug, according to former DEA official Braun.
U.S. and Colombian officials estimate that about 70 new cocaine subs—carrying perhaps 400 tons of cocaine—will be launched in 2011 alone. And that's not all such ships could transport.
"My concern is the growing nexus between drugs and terrorism," said Braun, who added that many terrorist organizations have ties to the international drug trade.
"These submarines," he said, "obviously could have applications other than moving drugs."
(Related pictures: "Cousteau's Shark-Shaped Submarine.")
Published July 13, 2010
Captured Narco-Sub
Photograph by Mauricio Duenas, AFP/Getty Images
The Colombian Navy forces a handmade submarine, laden with 1.6 tons of cocaine, to make an unscheduled stop in the Pacific port of Tumaco (map) in 2008.
Built of fiberglass and powered by ordinary marine diesel engines, most cocaine subs skim the surface of the Pacific undetected by radar as they cruise north from South America, DEA agents told National Geographic for the recent documentary Inside Cocaine Submarines.
Once in Central America or Mexico, the cocaine is transported via other means to the drug's ultimate destination, the United States.
Costing about a million dollars each to build, most cocaine subs are scuttled after just one successful run. But fully submersible craft, like the one seized in Ecuador on July 2, are clearly designed for repeated use, former DEA official Braun told National Geographic News.
(Related pictures: "World War II 'Samurai Subs' Found—Carried Aircraft.")
Published July 13, 2010
Inside a Cocaine Submarine
Photograph by Carlos Barria, Reuters
Pictured at a U.S. government facility in Key West (map), Florida, in 2009, the old-fashioned captain's wheel inside a jungle-built submarine was used to steer seven tons of cocaine north from Colombia via the Pacific before being seized in 2008.
Drug smugglers used to call the typical homemade sub el ataúd—"the coffin"—according to the New York Times. But the craft are becoming increasingly sophisticated and now boast modern electronics, navigation systems, anti-radar features—and even water-cooled mufflers, which make cocaine submarines harder to spot with infrared equipment.
Criminal engineers are also extending the narco-subs' ranges, with some craft capable of cruising 3,000 miles (4,800 kilometers) without refueling, according to the recent National Geographic Channel documentary Inside Cocaine Submarines.
(The National Geographic Channel is part-owned by the National Geographic Society, which owns National Geographic News.)
(Also see "Cocaine, Spices, Hormones Found in Drinking Water.")
Published July 13, 2010
Russian Drug Sub?
Photograph from Reuters
Pictured in the Bogotá, Colombia, warehouse where it was confiscated in 2000, this hundred-foot (30-meter) narco-sub was found surrounded with Russian-language design documents. It could have carried at least 150 tons of cocaine or heroin, according to Colombian national police.
Based on recent advances seen in cocaine-sub technology, experts believe submarine engineers from developed nations are providing technological expertise.
"Nobody, not even the cartels, is going to invest millions of dollars in a submarine unless they've got proven engineers on hand that know what they are doing," Braun said. "That’s just a reality of the situation."
(Related: "Cocaine on Money: Drug Found on 90 Percent of U.S. Bills.")
Published July 13, 2010
Drug-Sub Deck
Photograph by Christian Escobar Mora, AP
On March 26 a Colombian Navy sailor walks the deck of a homemade semisubmersible drug sub, which was seized by police before it could be launched.
Despite high-profile seizures, authorities believe dozens of cocaine subs have successfully delivered cargo bound for the U.S. drug market—and the problem may be growing. U.S. law enforcement officials now estimate that more than a third of the Colombian cocaine smuggled into the U.S. is carried on narco-subs, according to U.S.-government estimates cited by the Washington Post.
"The traffickers have now exhausted every option in the maritime domain," said Jay Bergman, DEA director for the Andes Range region, in a press statement. "There is literally no means of illicit marine-drug transport left to the imagination."
(See pictures of Colombia's "cocaine country.")
Published July 13, 2010