Semi_submarine.jpg (Image JPEG, 540x267 pixels) The latest threat facing America: Narco Subs. Watch the skies coasts! A narco submarine (also called narco sub, drug sub and Big Foot submarine) is a custom-made self-propelled semi-submersible built by drug traffickers to smuggle their goods. They are especially known to be used by Colombian drug cartel members to export cocaine from Colombia to the United States. First detected in 1993, they are popularly called submarines, though strictly speaking they are semi-submersibles because they cannot dive and most of the craft glides under the water with little beyond the cockpit and the exhaust tubes above the water.
In other words, a narco sub is a surface vessel with a very low freeboard. Due to their low profile and fiberglass construction, they are nearly undetectable with radar, sonar, and infrared systems Cocaine smuggling sea vesselsDuring the 1980s, fast, powerful go-fast boats became notorious as the drug smuggling vessel of choice in many parts of the world. The first time the U.S. Routes and seizures narco-sun pr0n:
Kure_midget_subs1.jpg (Image JPEG, 740x610 pixels) Drug-Sub Culture - The Latest Way to Get Cocaine Out of Colombia? Underwater. Narco submarine. A narco-submarine seized in Ecuador in July 2010 A narco-submarine (also called narco-sub, drug sub and Bigfoot submarine) is a type of custom-made ocean-going self-propelled submersible vessel built by drug traffickers to smuggle drugs.[1] They are especially known to be used by Colombian drug cartel members to export cocaine from Colombia to Mexico, which is often then transported overland to the United States.[2][3] The first known vessels, detected in 1993, were semi-submersibles since they could not dive: most of the craft was submerged with little more than the cockpit and the exhaust gas pipes above the water.
Newer narco-submarines are fully submersible, designed specifically to be difficult to detect visually or by radar, sonar and infrared systems.[2] Cocaine-smuggling sea vessel[edit] The first time the U.S. Construction[edit] Colombia's Pacific coastline, where muddy rivers loop into the ocean, has long been a smugglers' paradise. Typical characteristics[edit] Narco torpedo[edit] Des semi-sous-marins pilotés à distance pour passer de la drogue - Gizmodo -
Cela fait un petit moment que les barons de la drogue ont recours à des sous-marins artisanaux pour faire transiter la cocaïne entre la Colombie et les États-Unis. Mais leurs machines commencent à devenir de plus en plus sophistiquées, certaines étant même pilotées à distance: Les sous-marins ne sont pas véritablement sous-marins, dans la mesure où une portion du bâtiment reste toujours visible en surface. Mais avec seulement 45 cm au-dessus du niveau de l’eau, ils sont difficiles à détecter au radar, en dépit d’une longueur comprise entre 40 et 80 pieds (12 à 24 m), ils permettent d’embarquer quatre à douze tonnes de poudre blanche et jusqu’à quatre membres d’équipage (ou aucun lorsqu’il est commandé à distance). Motorisés par des moteurs diesels, les semi-sous-marins des trafiquants de drogue sont lents puisque leur vitesse de croisière est de l’ordre de six à 12 nœuds. Construire un tel engin en bois et fibre de verre ou acier nécessite un an de travail et coûte 2 millions de dollars.
De la drogue à bord d’un sous-marin. La Marine mexicaine a arraisonné, mardi 16 juillet, un sous-marin transportant de la drogue alors qu’il naviguait dans l’océan Pacifique, au large de l’Etat d’Oaxaca, au sud du pays. Le submersible en question n’est évidemment pas un SNLE mais un navire fabriqué artisanalement en Colombie pour le transport de drogue.
Le sous-marin maintenait son cap vers le nord quand il a été repéré à 320 km des côtes. Les marins mexicains ont attendu qu’il fasse surface pour l’intercepter et arrêter sans violence les quatre membres d’équipage qui se trouvaient à son bord. Ces derniers ont ensuite été hélitreuillés et conduits à Huatulco. Selon les déclarations faites à la presse, les suspects se sont présentés comme étant des pêcheurs contraints par les trafiquants de drogue colombiens de transporter leur cargaison sous peine de voir leur famille menacée. Ils seraient en outre partis de la ville colombienne de Buenaventura depuis une semaine. (c) Ministère de la Marine (Mexique) Colombia Drug Traffickers Adopt Semi Submersible Drug Smuggling. A white semi-submersible captured by the U.S. Coast Guard in the Pacific Ocean Aug. 18, 2005.
This one was unmanned and is being towed behind a fishing trawler, like a fishing lure. It was filled with 2.2 tons of cocaine. (Source: Colombian Navy) Please support our site by enabling javascript to view ads. BOGOTA, Colombia — Only a few years ago tales of traffickers plying the underseas world aboard cocaine-laden submarines struck anti-drug agents as a Jules Verne fantasy. Not anymore. Today, smugglers are moving tons of drugs towards the United States in so-called “semi-submersibles,” homemade vessels that travel just below the ocean’s surface and cover distances of up to 2,000 miles. Because they leave tiny wakes, the crude subs are extremely difficult to detect visually or by radar. Authorities seized 14 semi-submersibles last year, and another six have been captured this year, according to Colombian Navy Capt. The smugglers are trading speed for stealth. Feds Harpoon Alleged ‘Narco Submarine’ Crews | Threat Level. The crew of a semi-submersible vessel prepares to abandon ship before being intercepted and detained by the U.S.Coast Guard about 150 miles northwest of the Colombia-Ecuador border two weeks ago.Photo: U.S Navy Federal prosecutors in Florida are invoking a little-known law for the first time allowing them to prosecute smugglers sailing so-called "narco submarines" on the high seas.
The eight crew members of two stealthy, semi-submersible ships intercepted earlier this month each face up to 15 years in prison under the newly passed Drug Trafficking Vessel Interdiction Act of 2008. Measuring up to 80 feet long, a narco sub is a class of boat called a "semi-submersible," a vessel that travels at the ocean’s surface, with most of its mass hidden underwater. According to the U.S. Congress reacted last year by passing the Drug Trafficking Vessel Interdiction Act. P. "We believe the law is based on a set of assumptions," Bower says. The two cases filed last week in U.S.
See Also: U.S. Coast Guard and Navy seize 7 tons of cocaine valued at $8.4 Million | Coast Guard News. WASHINGTON — A U.S. Coast Guard law enforcement detachment embarked aboard the USS McInerney, seized a stateless, self-propelled, semi-submersible vessel Saturday with seven tons of cocaine aboard about 350 miles west of Guatemala in the waters of the Eastern Pacific Ocean. The 59-foot, steel and fiberglass, self-propelled, semi-submersible (SPSS) craft was detected by a U.S. Navy aircraft. The aircraft vectored the USS McInerney to a position near the SPSS whereupon two small boats were launched from the McInerney. “This was the most dangerous operation of my career,” said Lt. j.g. Boardings of SPSS craft are particularly hazardous because when loaded there is very little freeboard and when law enforcement is detected by the smugglers they open scuttling valves to flood the craft and send it, along with the evidence of smuggling, to the bottom of the ocean.
SPSS craft are becoming more sophisticated and capable. It is in the light of this growing threat that the U.S. Photo Essay: US Navy, Coast Guard Seize Semi-Submersible Boat, 7 Tons of Cocaine. In this photo released by the U.S. Coast Guard, some of the 37 bales of cocaine are seen in one of the compartments of a self-propelled, semi-submersible craft that was seized by the Coast Guard Saturday, Sept. 13, 2008, during an at sea interdiction about 350 miles west of Guatemala. (U.S. Navy Photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Nico Figueroa.) In this photo released by the U.S. Coast Guard, members of Coast Guard law enforcement detachment 404 survey the deck of the self-propelled, semi-submersible craft they seized on Saturday, Sept. 13, 2008.
The LEDET, embarked aboard the USS McInerney (seen to the left of the SPSS), seized seven tons of cocaine from the vessel. The estimated street value of the cocaine is more than $187 million. In this photo released by the U.S. In this photo released by the U.S. In this photo released by the U.S. In this photo released by the U.S. In this photo released by the U.S.
Updated with additional imagery: Sept. 16, 2008. Self-Propelled Semi-Submersible (SPSS) watercraft. The amount of cocaine moving through the Western Hemisphere Transit Zone (WHTZ) in calendar year 2007 increased from 1,022 metric tons in CY 2006 to 1,421 metric tons in CY 2007. Removals of cocaine loads in transit by interdiction forces increased from 256 metric tons to an all-time record high of 316 metric tons. Despite this notable increase, the removal rate, i.e., removals as a percentage of total movement, remains in the low twenty percent range. This is well below the national target of 40 percent, suggesting that there remains much room for continued improvement. Sixty-eight percent of the cocaine moving through the transit zone transited the Eastern Pacific in 2007; twenty-one percent passed through the Western Caribbean; ten percent was smuggled through the Central Caribbean and less than one percent was shipped directly to the United States.
SPSS vessels represent an increasingly significant threat to safety and security. On July 29, 2008 U.S. Photo Essay: US Navy, Coast Guard Seize Semi-Submersible Boat, 7 Tons of Cocaine. Raw Video: US Coast Guard intercepts drug running submarine. Breaking news -Coke submarine bust in Mexico. Semi-submersible. Coast Guard Captures Semi-Submersible Drug Sub. Semi-Submersible Interdiction - a News & Politics video. Coast Guard Intercepts Semi-Submersible - a News & Politics video.