Spanish police have seized this homemade narcotics submarine that can carry up to 2.2 tons of cargo.
Photo:
National Police / Associated Press
Spanish police said on Friday they had seized a 30-foot-long submarine that could carry 2.2 tonnes of narcotics, a sign of the length that cartels of illegal drugs would transport to the booming European market.
Police say they discovered the narcotics sub in Malaga on the Costa del Sol in Spain as part of an international police operation that led to the arrest of 52 people and the seizure of more than 400 kilos of cocaine, along with other illegals drugs and cash.
Police said the vessel was made of fiberglass and plywood and is powered by two 200-horsepower engines, although it has never sailed.
Narco subs are semi-submersibles that mostly float below the waterline and have long been cocaine from Colombia to Central America. In 2019, Spanish law enforcers discovered a narcotics sub on the Atlantic coast of Spain, confirming persistent rumors that they could reach Europe.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration said Europe may have surpassed the U.S. as the world’s largest cocaine market. Most cocaine deliveries are hidden on container ships that call at large ports, such as Antwerp in Belgium and Rotterdam in the Netherlands.
Spanish police said the narco-sub discovered last month was most likely intended to transport cocaine ashore from a larger vessel that would have brought a consignment across the Atlantic.
Write to James Marson by [email protected]
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