Narcosubmarine busted off Spanish coast last week - photo and videos

[Jon]

Spanish authorities caught a semi-submersible narcosubmarine off the coast of Galicia last week, carrying over 6,600 pounds of cocaine (for athletic metrologists, that's about equal to the weight of 0.003 football fields). This is being hailed as Europe's first transoceanic narcosubmarine bust.

Fullsize image: https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/h...b_fullsize.jpg



1:37 video:

5:20 video:

Previously:

Excavator used to smuggle 850 pounds of cocaine - photo and video
Narco-submarine captured by U.S. Coast Guard - video and infographic
Submarine simulator - photo
Navy SEAL SDV mini submarine - photo and video
steam-powered submarine

[mklotz]

More scary than transoceanic drug submarines is the possibility that TV talking heads will now report weight as well as area in units of football fields.

Now that they have the sub to examine, I wonder if they will be able to determine (perhaps by examining fuel capacity) if it really came from the Americas or rather was launched from a larger ship at sea in order to run the drugs in to the shore.

[Frank S]

I would have loaded the cargo back in the sub along with the 2 caught traffickers towed it out to deep waters pumped it full of concrete and allowed it to sink again

[bruce.desertrat]

To quote Princess Leia You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought.

Though I agree with mklotz, it was likely carried most of the way on another ship, although they have been caught numerous times making the entire run from Colombia to California. Unknown entirely is how many times they haven't been caught....

[Frank S]

Given the vast resources the drug world has at their disposal these semi submersibles are most likely carried under or within a cavity under the hull of a luxury yacht or a cargo vessel carrying legal commodities. No trace of the drugs or the sub would be detected from a coast guard or DEA boarding and possibly would not be discovered even from an underwater inspection. The sub is squat and low profile probably low enough to be hidden below deck in the bilge and ballast compartments. We all know how well doors and other openings can be disguised

[VinnieL]

This reminds me of the scene in the comedy movie "1941" when Slim Pickens was captured in his old truck by Japanese invaders from a small submarine. His truck had his name Holly Wood on the door of it and they thought they were in Hollywood. Their compass had quit working and he had one he got out of the box of Cracker Jacks he was eating. To keep the Japanese sailors lost he swallowed the compass!!
Hey I maintain that since pharmaceutical companies don't want to sell drugs to be used for lethal injection executions, use the captured Heroin, and Cocaine. That will kill a person very quickly. Cost-nothing! Plus televise it to show how drugs kill people.

[Frank S]

""VinnieL:Hey I maintain that since pharmaceutical companies don't want to sell drugs to be used for lethal injection executions, use the captured Heroin, and Cocaine. That will kill a person very quickly. Cost-nothing! Plus televise it to show how drugs kill people. ""
Good idea, since a large percentage of the confiscated drugs somehow eventually wind up in the hands of the public anyway or stored in some evidence locker.
From my perspective all illegal drugs should be destroyed on the spot and the traffickers executed at time of capture