Submarine Carrying 5 tons of Cocaine Seized Off Guatemala

FOX ^ | 08/23/07 | Unknown

[Froufrou]

A submarine-like vessel filled with hundreds of millions of dollars worth of cocaine was seized off the Guatemalan coast, U.S. officials said.

Four suspected smugglers were operating the self-propelled, semi-submersible vessel when it was located and seized on Sunday evening by officials from the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, U.S. Navy and the U.S. Coast Guard, the Border Patrol said in a news release Wednesday.

When the suspects realized they had been spotted by drug-surveillance aircraft patrolling the eastern Pacific, they scuttled the vessel but were unable to escape.

Coast Guard officials, guided by the reconnaissance plane, intercepted the vessel and detained the reputed smugglers, who were transporting approximately 5.5 tons of cocaine worth $352 million, the Border Patrol said.

Several drug-carrying submarines operated by Colombian drug cartels have been discovered in recent years.

[wildbill]

They need to disguise it as a whale...and hope that a male doesn’t happen along.

[The Great RJ]

If drug cartels can create and use such a device to smuggle drugs into the US, couldn’t well financed terrorists particularly with the backing of sympathetic governments do the same to smuggle WMDs into the US?

[Kevmo]

BMFLR

[Ken H]

"The demand for both powdered and crack cocaine in the United States is high. Among those using cocaine in the United States during 2000, 3.6 million were hardcore users who spent more than $36 billion on the drug in that year."

--http://www.usdoj.gov/ndic/pubs07/794/cocaine.htm

[Froufrou]

I’ve had the same thoughts about WMDs many times.

Whales! Maybe a stolen Shamu Southwest plane!

[BearCub]

So, you think the United States Coast Guard engages in piracy?

Yes, if it's stopping vessels that aren't either in or entering U.S. waters or waters of nations we have a treaty with. Stopping a vessel on the high seas is piracy.

[Osage Orange]

No other enterprise in the world has that kind of a profit margin.

I dunno...I think the I.R.S. has a pretty good scam going.

[skeptoid]

Something I buy at the tap for 3.81 per thousand gallons goes for about 2.00 per 12oz the last I looked. Not bad.

I calculate 5,599% gross profit.

What's the minimum buy in?

[Centurion2000]

An interdiction on the high seas is piracy.
So, you think the United States Coast Guard engages in piracy?

If US ships are engaging and boarding ships in international waters, yes they are engaging in piracy.

[Political Junkie Too]

"The Numbley"?

I'm sure you mean the Hunley?

-PJ

[BearCub]

Okay, maybe not 'piracy' in that pirates steal and plunder. But boarding ships in international waters raises some questions in my mind.

The Geneva Convention on the High Seas says:

Except where acts of interference derive from powers conferred by treaty, a warship which encounters a foreign merchant ship on the high seas is not justified in boarding her unless there is reasonable ground for suspecting:

(a) That the ship is engaged in piracy; or

(b) That the ship is engaged in the slave trade; or

(c) That though flying a foreign flag or refusing to show its flag, the ship is, in reality, of the same nationality as the warship.

So unless the ship is (a) American, or (b) sailing under the flag of a country with which we have a suitable treaty, our ships can't stop or board.

[PBRSTREETGANG]

I'm sure you mean the Hunley?

Well, it was a play on words that didn't quite work, you see. (A little to far of a reach.)

[PBRSTREETGANG]

to s/b too

[Political Junkie Too]

Oh, I get it now that you mention it. Hunley numb on cocaine = Numbley.

Have you been to the Groaner Puns thread yet? ;-)

-PJ

[Recon by Fire]

So that is where Captain Nemo went, interesting.

[colorado tanker]

I don't think the Coast Guard engages in piracy and I can't imagine the drug runners, flush with cash, wouldn't challenge any illegal arrest.

If you wonder on what authority the Coast Guard detains these vessels, you might send a question to a public affairs officer.

[taxed2death]

5 tons. That’s a lotta blo.

[blam]

"5 tons. That’s a lotta blo."

One weekend and ten killings in Detroit worth.

[StormEye]

"A submarine-like vessel filled with hundreds of millions of dollars worth of cocaine was seized off the Guatemalan coast, U.S. officials said."

Why bother seizing the sub. Just torpedo or depth charge it. No one would admit to knowing it was missing.

[coloradan]

I would guess that if one out of 20 attempts makes it through, they are rolling in dough.

Indeed. And the "they" includes terrorists, since we've decided that decent people aren't to share in the profits.