December 12, 2007: The Colombian Navy took down another cocaine carrying submarine [PHOTO], off the Pacific coast. This sub appeared to be carrying several tons of cocaine, but the crew of four scuttled the craft before the navy could capture it. The water was about 9,000 feet deep where the craft went down. The four crewmen of the submersible were captured, and found to have traces of cocaine on their clothing. The submersible was first spotted by an air force plane, which called in a nearby navy patrol boat. That makes the third cocaine carrying sub to be caught in the last three months. This makes ten such craft the Colombians have captured in the last two years. One of the two recently captured (on land) subs was under construction and about 70 percent complete. The other was ready for use, a 56 foot craft capable of carrying five tons of cocaine. The Colombians are not talking about any new air reconnaissance methods they may be using to spot these stealthy craft, or if they are getting assistance from the U.S. (something like long range heat sensors perhaps).

In late 2006, the U.S. Coast Guard spotted and seized a similar "submarine" off the coast of Costa Rica. They found the boat contained a crew of four, and 3.5 tons of cocaine. That cargo was worth about $140 million dollars (wholesale price, when sold to dealers). Certainly worth the several hundred thousand dollars or so it cost to build the "submarine." Actually, these are not submarines in the true sense of the word, but "semi-submersibles". The fiberglass boats, powered by a diesel engine, have a small "conning tower" above the water, providing the crew, and engine, with fresh air, and permitting the crew to navigate the boat. A boat of this type is the only practical kind of "submarine" for drug smuggling. A real submarine would be much more difficult to build, although you can buy commercial subs for a million dollars or so. These, however, can carry only a few hundred pounds of cargo, and not for long distances.

The main problem with real subs is that they are not much more effective than the "semi-submersibles" that are coming out of Colombia (and even Europe). Submarines can only travel underwater, on battery power, for a short time. Otherwise, they are on the surface, or in a "semi-submersible" state, running on diesel power.

So the drug gangs had the right idea, but their "sub" was not stealthy enough to avoid detection all the time. However, it appears that these "semi-submersibles" do work, because this was not the first one encountered. In addition to the nine found recently in Colombia, over a dozen have been encountered, mainly in South America, over the last decade. Most of them are apparently getting through. Delivery by sea is now the favored method for cocaine smugglers, because the United States has deployed military grade aircraft detection systems, and caught too many of the airborne drug shipments. The smugglers did their math, and realized that improvised "submarines" were a more cost-effective way to go.