https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-n...s-deploy-cocaine-navies-to-evade-police/Drug traffickers deploy ‘cocaine navies’ to evade police
‘Narco-subs’ carry million-pound cocaine cargo beneath waterline to go undetected by radars
Drug traffickers are deploying “cocaine navies” to cross vast distances by sea and reach new markets undetected.
So-called “narco-subs” are capable of sailing across oceans with millions of pounds worth of cocaine onboard in a new underwater drug trafficking route.
The vessels – which are long, thin and painted the colour of the sea – are designed to evade radar and aerial searches and carry most of their illegal cargo below the its waterline.
They require no stops and are therefore difficult for authorities to intercept. Some are fully submersible, according to The Wall Street Journal.
In November, the US Coast Guard intercepted a 90ft-long semi-submersible skimming just below the water’s surface. It was trying to sail from Colombia to Australia, a distance of 9,000 miles, with five tons of cocaine stowed on board.
The rise of the new maritime drug smuggling tactics comes amid cocaine supply hitting an historic high worldwide, according to UN and US anti-drug officials.
A softening in anti-drug enforcement in Colombia – which produces 60 per cent of the world’s cocaine – combined with production advances, improvements in the supply chain and growing consumer demand, are driving cocaine’s global surge.
The US has also rolled back on its efforts to help anti-drug initiatives in Colombia, shifting its resources towards highly addictive drugs flooding America’s streets such as fentanyl and methamphetamines from Mexico.
Supply has grown so large that the price of coca leaf has plunged to a record low, experts say.
And yet, retail prices continue to grow as new markets open up in Asia and Africa, fuelling South America’s demand. A kilo of cocaine in Australia sells for more than $200,000 (£150,000), eight to 10 times the price it sells for in Miami.
All this has propelled drug smugglers to find new, inventive ways to get their stock across the world, leading to the creation of a new cocaine highway across the Pacific Ocean relying on semi-submersibles.
“What used to be a one-boat operation risking a run through the Caribbean is now a far more globalised network – with many more players, including seasoned smugglers and captains from illegal fishing fleets,” Captain González of the Colombian navy’s research team, told The Wall Street Journal.
“In time, they evolved in their operations, in their reach, their radius of action and how much they could carry,” Captain Grisales added.
The US is the greatest consumer of cocaine worldwide, but Australia has the highest percentage of users at 4.2 per cent of the population, followed by the UK with 2.7 per cent and the US in fifth with 2.4 per cent.
Narco-subs are also reaching the shores of Europe.
Last month, Portugal seized a narco-sub carrying €300 million (£255 million) worth of cocaine that had crossed the Atlantic to Europe from South America.
Europe’s first drug-stuffed submersible was caught off Spain in 2019, carrying 3000kg of cocaine, first alerting drug authorities that the underwater route existed.
In August last year, the Royal Navy seized its first narco-sub in the Caribbean in a joint operation with the US coast guard to help stem the flow of illegal cargo through the region.
The vessel, captured by HMS Trent after a high-speed pursuit, had 2000kg of cocaine on board, worth £160 million.
