This Thursday, the Colombian Navy intercepted a submarine loaded with 3.2 tons of cocaine that was used by drug traffickers to transport drugs to the United States. According to Colombian authorities, the value of the drug shipment was estimated at US$170 million (R$882 million).
The 20meterlong submersible was operated by four men who were arrested and taken to the municipality of Tumaco, in the department of Nãrino. Laboratory tests confirmed that the drug stored in 185 containers was cocaine.
This year alone, 19 submersibles have been intercepted by the country’s authorities. The catches take place in the Pacific Ocean.
Narco submarines
The largest drug submarine in Colombian history, 30m long and 3m wide, was seized in May this year and loaded with 3 tonnes of cocaine.
The ship was heading to Central America, one of the routes most frequently used by the illegal trade to the United States, the world’s largest consumer of Colombian cocaine.
It is the largest semisubmersible ever identified since 1993, when registrations began in Colombia, the world’s largest cocaine producer.
In three decades, the Navy has seized 228 vehicles of this type that crossed from the Pacific to the United States loaded with tons of drugs and even crossed the Atlantic to reach Europe.
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