The poor state of the sea in the Ría de Arousa (Pontevedra), with wind and waves that have activated the yellow warning due to coastal phenomena, complicates the work to inspect and refloat the Narco submarine, which half-sunk a kilometer this Monday was found from the coast of vilaxoan. The first dives by Civil Guard divers trying to gain access to the interior of the submersible were unsuccessful. The plan is to try to refloat the ship, tow it to port and inspect it somewhere safe. It’s still unknown if the ship, hand-crafted and between 15 and 16 meters long, holds the cache inside, although the recent discovery of two stranded gliders in Ribeira has those in charge of the Tax Agency, Guardia Civil, Maritime Rescue and National Police worrying that the drug, probably cocaine, was safely stored before the submersible sank.
Several divers from the Civil Guard’s Special Underwater Activities Group (GEAS) are conducting dives in the area to descend to the sunken wreck, inspect it and obtain as much information as possible to study how to refloat it. Wind and sea complicate the tasks. The Aemet has activated the yellow warning for coastal phenomena on the Pontevedra coast, where the wind can blow at speeds between 50 and 70 kilometers per hour, combining the sea from the west or north-west with waves between 5 and 7 meters. Also this morning they could not reach the ship during the first dives.
The government’s sub-delegate in Pontevedra, Maica Larriba, has indicated to the press: “We can’t move forward until we inspect the submersible” and at the moment “there is no data pointing in this direction or in the opposite direction”, in Regarding his connection to drug clans. It would be a boat about 15 meters long “or even a little more,” according to Larriba, who has clarified that no arrests have been made and the whereabouts of its crew are unknown. “Sea conditions are not good but the aim is to get it back afloat as soon as possible. If it can be, tomorrow”, Larriba has condemned.
He gave up boarding the ship yesterday afternoon because the divers failed to open the submersible’s hatch. The almost vertical position of the boat, from which only the tip of the prow sticking out of the water is visible, made the work of the specialists more difficult. The wreck was inspected with an underwater drone. Customs Enforcement sources have confirmed that it is an enclosed semi-submersible with characteristics similar to the boat off the Aldán coast in November 2019.
The discovery of the last semi-submersible this Monday in Galicia coincides with the chain arrest of three others by Colombian forces this weekend, an unusual event that underscores the proliferation of these vessels in the hands of the drug traffickers they control. These ships, in particular, have been attributed to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas, each tasked with transporting between four and six tons of cocaine hydrochloride.
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