$103 million. This is the amount the drug traffickers would have lost aboard the largest submarine intercepted by the Colombian Navy in history. It was over 100 feet long and 10 feet wide, and had nearly three tons of cocaine on board.
The semi-submersible was stopped Tuesday en route to Central America, one of the busiest illegal trade routes into the United States. Pictures released by authorities showed the long boat on the water as well as its goods landed ashore, hundreds of packages of narcotics marked “Toyota” – drug dealers are happy to sign them, often chosen from the major world brand supplies – and in the middle three captive men.
AFP / COLOMBIAN ARMY
It is the largest semi-submersible identified since this type of seizure began in 1993, in the country, the world’s largest producer of cocaine. In three decades, the Navy has hijacked 228 ships of this type, laden with tons of drugs, sailing from the Pacific to the United States or even crossing the Atlantic to Europe.
14 years imprisonment
The three Colombian suspects arrested in this latest seizure said they were “forced by an organization of drug traffickers to board the semi-submersible boat carrying the alkaloid and head to Central America.” The three men, aged 63, 54 and 45, were taken to Tumaco (south) to be tried there.
These clandestinely made, rustic, and lightweight boats move near the surface, cover greater distances than government speedboats, and are difficult to spot. Colombian legislation penalizes the use, construction, marketing, possession and transport of semi-submersibles with prison terms of up to 14 years.
After half a century of US-funded and sponsored drug wars, Colombia continues to hit record levels in cocaine production. In 2021, the cultivation of coca, from which the drug is derived, covered more than 204,000 hectares and the production of cocaine hydrochloride amounted to 1,400 tons, according to the United Nations.