(Image source: U.S. Coast Guard)
BY JIM FLINK
ANCHOR AUSTIN KIM
You're watching multisource U.S. news analysis from Newsy.
It’s a first -- for the Coast Guard.
The seizure of a narco-submarine in Caribbean waters.
What’s it mean?
Two things -- one small victory in the war on drugs.
And new battle lines being drawn.
First to WPTV -- with video of the capture.
The drug runners -- pulled the plug on the sub.
It sank while they tried to make their getaway.
Authorities nabbed the drug smugglers first. Then made plans to get the drug cache. (Video: WPTV)
Now -- to what it means.
These subs -- having been trolling along the Central American coastline for years -- but never this close to American waters. The Sun Sentinel reports...
“An unprecedented sighting and seizure this month in Caribbean waters — a clunky submarine laden with 15,000 pounds of cocaine worth an estimated $180 million — may mean U.S. authorities are now in a two-ocean naval campaign against drug smugglers.”
The Miami Herald reports, while crude, these submarines are responsible for transporting a third of all cocaine which ultimately ends up in the U.S..
“Semi-submersible crafts are typically built in the jungles of Colombia by paramilitary rebel groups ... They’re less than 100 feet long — built of fiberglass and wood to evade radar detection — and can carry up to five crew members and 10 tons of drugs for thousands of miles.”
NatGeo shows how the crooks -- ditch the coke -- if they’re close to getting caught.
“These scuttle valves enable crews on the brink of capture to send their vessel and cargo to the bottom, eliminating all evidence against them.”
That’s what these criminals tried to do too.
But the FBI was too quick for them -- seizing some of the load.
Forbes notes -- then retrieving the rest.
“Several Coast Guard cutters, the Honduran Navy and FBI dive teams then used side-sonar equipment to search for the sunken submarine-like vessel, which was located on July 26. It took authorities about three days to recover the rest of the drugs from the sunken vessel.”
It’s one victory for the Coast Guard. But making narco-subs, has become a cottage industry in Central America. Nat Geo reports, Captains of the narco-subs can make up to make a quarter million dollars -- for a successful delivery.
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