Posted on 07/18/2008 5:45:49 AM PDT by 3AngelaD
MEXICO CITY — The capture was worthy of an action thriller: elite Mexican troops rappelling from a helicopter onto the deck of a mysterious submarine. The 33-foot vessel turned out to be crammed with parcels believed to contain cocaine, possibly tons. Its disheveled crew of four emerged in stocking feet and baggy shorts, saying they had shipped out from Colombia a week earlier under threat of death.
Mexico's military confirmed Thursday that the men are Colombian but offered little new information...Capt. Jose Luis Vergara, a spokesman for the Mexican navy, said authorities were hauling the "very well-constructed" vessel to shore and had yet to weigh the contraband, which he said likely amounted to "tons."
The unusual episode suggests that the government, already struggling against drug traffickers by land and air, faces a vexing new undersea front....Colombian forces and the U.S. Coast Guard have seized more than a dozen such boats...during the past two and a half years. U.S. officials say the craft are being used more often because they are more difficult to detect by radar....
"When they think they might be caught, the crews tend to scuttle them," said Jose Ruiz, spokesman for the U.S. Southern Command in Miami, which monitors drug activities. "They get out of them, sink them, and the drugs go to the bottom of the ocean so they can't be recovered for evidence."
Wednesday's seizure of the olive-green, surfboard-shaped vessel in the Pacific Ocean about 125 miles from the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, was the first off the coast of Mexico, authorities said....Now authorities apparently face a maritime weapon as smuggling gangs seek ways to move their product to the U.S. Unlike numerous Latin American nations, Mexico does not have a submarine force because it was considered expensive and unnecessary....
(Excerpt) Read more at seattletimes.nwsource.com ...
Geez, if the crew’s families were under threat of death, couldn’t the Mexicans have kept the capture quiet until cops rescued them?
They’re probably dead now.
“The men, ranging in age from their 20s to late 50s, said they were fishermen who had been kidnapped and forced to make the journey by men who threatened their families. The sailors said that they were unaware of the contents or destination of the craft, which they said was guided by a satellite navigation system. The suspects said they were to be paid $500 each.”
Why did this craft need sailors?
So what happens to the seized drugs? Auctioned off to the highest bidder?
Ah yes. The “new” Mexican navy. All equipped with glass bottoms so they can see the “old” Mexican navy..
I can just imagine one of these packed with a crude shotgun nuke and it goes off in San Diego.
“So what happens to the seized drugs? Auctioned off to the highest bidder?”
Now that the Mexican government has them i’d imagine that they will end up in the US even faster.
I saw a story on these “submarines” a couple of weeks ago. They’re basically boats that ride low in the water. They don’t have the ability to dive or completely submerge. And the inside of these things are packed to the gills with huge packages of cocaine. It’s highly unlikely that these “sailors” didn’t know what they were transporting.
My understanding is that they did know - the cartels are holding the crew’s families against the successful delivery of the cocaine.
To make sure the bilge pumps keep running?
We used to call the Knox’s SQS-26 the Helen Keller sonar...
Why did the Mexican submarine sink? Because the adobe melted.
Our sqis was OOC for two years after we dropped anchor on our own dome.
LOL
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.