Posted on 08/07/2007 10:41:11 AM PDT by james500
Colombia's navy seized a 65-foot submarine that likely was used to haul tons of cocaine on part of its journey to the United States, officials said Tuesday.
No drugs were found or arrests made when the fiberglass submarine was discovered Sunday in a swampy mangrove about six miles off the northernmost point of Colombia's Caribbean coast.
The blue-colored, diesel-powered vessel had sophisticated communications systems and was capable of carrying up to 11 tons of cocaine, Rear Admiral
Roberto Garcia Marquez, head of the navy's Caribbean fleet, told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
Colombia is the world's largest producer of cocaine and the country's drug cartels have been known to use homemade submarines to smuggle large amounts of cocaine past U.S. and Colombian patrol boats to Central America, a stop on the route to the United States.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
Thar she blows!
Drugs bad. Personal submarine very cool.
“Colombia is the world’s largest producer of cocaine”
And also the world’s largest producer of mini-subs.
And also the world’s largest recipient of US aid money (though provided by drug users and not by the US government)—to the tune of billions every year.
It’s a sign of how profitable the drug trade is when the “mules” start using technology this sophisticated.
That was a good one!!
I bet no one slept on the trip up to the US.
It’s good to know they can’t just fly tonnes of the stuff to Mena, Arkansas anymore!
Clinton knew.
Man...I had no idea that private subs had progressed to this level!
http://www.ussubs.com/submarines/discovery_1000.php3
See econjack's link.
Wow! Have to add that to my list of things to buy when I hit the Mega Millions Lottery. (Or do you have to be at the Bill Gates / Warren Buffet level to afford it? That's one of those "if you have to ask...." type toys.)
Some years ago I predicted this development. There is simply too much money in this illegal trade for the drug cartels not to move into ever more sophisticated technology to move their product into the U.S.
Here’s another speculative prediction:
1. The use of radar-proof gliders to ‘ridge run’ the north-south mountains of Mexico into the U.S. for the final dropoffs.
I do not think I would want to be in an unidentified submarine approaching the U.S. coast.
They've got a used 48 passenger sub for sale for under $2 million.
I doubt this thing draws much draft—so you’d hug the shallow coasts where our subs can’t go and your sonar reflection would get caught up in ground clutter of the seabed.
Much less risky than airplane flights which can be picked up on downlooking radar even if they stay just above wave levels.
Rats! I just bought my new Ferrari...I hope it's still available after next month's paycheck comes in.
Probably, the choice of material was dictated by the ease of working with fiberglass and the fact that its material is draws far less notice! Since the "Sub" merely cruises at an even shallower depth than traditional "Periscope Depth", fiberglass is ideal when considering load bearing capacity!
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