'First EVER transatlantic drug submarine' is captured by Spanish police with $121M of cocaine | Daily Mail Online
The drug-smuggling sub that crossed the Atlantic: Spanish police capture $121M of cocaine after three crew scuttled craft following WEEK-LONG, 4,800 mile voyage from Colombia
- Law enforcement in Spain have captured the first transatlantic 'narco submarine '
- It was carrying $121 million worth of cocaine and departed from Colombia
- The shipment was intercepted on Sunday night in the northwestern region of Galicia
- Authorities have become increasingly shocked by the sophistication of the cartel
- Authorities arrested two Ecuadorean nationals, who are being held without bail
- A third suspect, a Spanish man, remained at-large as of Tuesday
- Sources close to the investigation said the groups behind this shipment must be “big, since just the submarine itself must have cost around $2.7 million
- The submarine had been tracked while it sailed across the Atlantic from Colombia to Europe
- Spanish authorities first learned of the vessel, which traveled 7,690 kilometers or 4,778 nautical miles, on Friday after receiving a tip from the police in Portugal
Published: 05:50 EST, 26 November 2019 | Updated: 18:49 EST, 26 November 2019
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Spanish authorities have captured what is believed to be the first ever narco submarine to cross the Atlantic Ocean.
Law enforcement estimate they have confiscated three tons of cocaine worth upwards of $121 million inside the 65-foot vessel that was intercepted Sunday in the northwestern region of Galicia.
Two members of the three-person crew, who are from Ecuador, were arrested by police after they scuttled the vessel and a third Spanish man is currently on the run.
The submarine was tracked while it sailed across the Atlantic from Colombia to Europe, totaling 7,690 kilometers or 4,778 nautical miles.
The sophistication of the 65-foot vessel has caught authorities off-guard as South American drug cartels employ increasingly brazen methods of delivering their merchandise across the globe.
Sources close to the investigation said the groups behind this shipment must be “big, since just the submarine itself must have cost around $2.7 million.'
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Spanish civil guard tow a sunken submarine believed to be carrying tons of cocaine in Aldán harbor in northwest Spain. Authorities intercepted the vessel Sunday and arrested two men from Ecuador. A male Spanish national remains at-large
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The submarine, believed to be the first to ever cross the Atlantic Ocean packed with drugs, sunk several dozen feet on Tuesday. The vessel traveled 7,690 kilometers, or 4,778 nautical miles, from Colombia to Europe
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Spanish authorities said divers were able to recover one package of cocaine from the submarine on Monday
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Pictured is one of the two Ecuadorean nationals who were part of the three-man crew that were operating the submarine
Spanish authorities said it was the first time a submarine had been found to be used in drug trafficking in the country. Police divers pulled out one package of cocaine from the vessel Monday.
Spanish police had been monitoring the vessel's movements in recent days in coordination with international police, who reportedly learned of the submarine's route after it stopped in Portugal.
The crew abandoned the submarine, which was built in Guyana and Suriname, in the Aldán inlet off the province of Pontevedra.
The official couldn't say from which country the submarine had departed from, but media reports said police suspected it to have set off from Colombia.
A judge on Tuesday ordered two male Ecuadorean nationals held without bail as law enforcement intensified the search for a third suspect, a Spanish man.
And on Tuesday police had to deal with steady rain and strong winds which made it difficult for the sunken submarine to be brought up to the dock at the Port of Aldán.
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The Lisbon-based Maritime Analysis and Operation Center, which tracks the nautical transportation of narcotics, teamed with law enforcement agencies in Portugal and Spain to trace the submarine
Media reports said the vessel could be carrying three metric tons, but the official said this couldn't be confirmed yet. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in accordance with government rules.
Details of when the ship departed Colombia and how many days the crew spent in the ocean are still unknown.
The Lisbon-based Maritime Analysis and Operation Center, which tracks the nautical transportation of narcotics, teamed with law enforcement agencies in Portugal and Spain to track the submarine.
Spanish newspaper ABC reported that the agency had been monitoring the vessel since November 15.
It made a stop in Cape Verde before it continued on to Portugal, where it paused about '40 miles off the coast' and then steamed ahead towards Spain.
On Friday, the Portuguese police alerted Spain of the submarine's route.
As far back as October, chatter from inside a prison in Spain, according to Spanish newspaper El Pais, spread the rumor that a drug lord in Galicia was working on a 3,000 kilo shipment of cocaine.
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Spanish police were alerted of the vessel's route after its stopped in Portugal and intercepted in the northwestern region of Galicia
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Spanish Civil Guard divers stand over the confiscated submarine as the police attempted to place the vessel on a port ramp Tuesday before it cables attached to were ripped off due to bad weather, causing the 'narco-sub' to sink
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Spanish authorities learned of the submarine's route after they were alerted by their Portuguese counterparts Friday
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Authorities found that the submarine was built in Guyana and Suriname before it departed from Colombia
'They have taken advantage of the [inactivity of investigations in the area] and have worked with discretion while the spotlights focused on southern Spain,' an investigator said, according to Spanish newspaper El Pais.
In 2006, authorities found an abandoned homemade submarine in Vigo and later arrested six suspects, who were each sentenced to two years in prison for attempting to traffic cocaine.
Previous decommissions of submarines transporting cocaine have taken place along the Pacific Ocean corridor between Colombia and Mexico.
In September, United States Coast Guard seized a 'narco-sub' transporting 12,000 pounds of cocaine valued over $165 million.
