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| Caribbean-Latin America | |
| Submarine Carrying 5 Tons of Cocaine Seized off Guatemala | |
| 2007-08-23 | |
| 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. That's a lot of coke Several drug-carrying submarines operated by Colombian drug cartels have been discovered in recent years. For the kind of $ they apparently have, I'm surprised they haven't bought a used real sub somewhere.
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| Posted by:Spot |
| #8 Anybody ever seen yayo burnt, or otherwise destroyed? |
| Posted by: borgboy 2007-08-23 19:44 |
| #7 ... any vessel can be a submarine - once. Hot contender for Snark O' the Day™! |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-08-23 19:23 |
| #6 5 tons! It takes 2000 pounds of raw coca to make 1 pound of cocaine. And 1 coca plant will typically hold about 4 ounces of leaves. There is no way that all that product could be manufactured and shipped without bribery of government officials. I spent time in Columbia and the coca fields of Bolivia, thus, I ain't shocked. |
| Posted by: Large Ebbeager6136 2007-08-23 16:44 |
| #5 From the archives of history, the Great Lakes shipping industry many years ago had a vessel called the 'Whale Back;' rode low in the water, and had ( supposedly) watertight hatches. the premise was that rather than fight the waves, they would just let the water roll over the ship. problem was the water tight hatches. often times they weren't. if the drug runners re-invented that concept they might be able to ship ( sink) more drugs at once, especially if they used the not-so-watertight-hatch-system. |
| Posted by: USN, Ret. 2007-08-23 16:17 |
| #4 Don't our fast-attack guys need some practice? Perfect opportunity to allow some live-fire time on UFO's (unidentified floating object). |
| Posted by: Jame_Retief 2007-08-23 16:01 |
| #3 John, any vessel can be a submarine - once. The challenge is to resurface. |
| Posted by: Rambler 2007-08-23 15:59 |
| #2 Can you imagine the number of these home made things that must have sunk in the last few years? The Coast Guard catches what - 10 percent ? I'm sure at least 80% of the "subs" go to the bottom |
| Posted by: john frum 2007-08-23 14:27 |
| #1 they shouda painted it to look like a whale.. The Greens woulda given it a guarded escort. |
| Posted by: Red Dawg 2007-08-23 13:52 |