Cartel Drug Submarines are Becoming More Common in Costa Rica

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On May 14, three people fled – or were chased – away from a narco submarine in Playa Llorona in Osa Peninsula in southwestern Costa Rica’s Corcovado Park. They left behind their ominous-looking gray homemade boat. The Fuerza Publica, Border Police and Coast Guard seized more than two tons of cocaine neatly stored aboard the otherwise messy boat’s interior. There have been several such boats found abandoned or captured in Costa Rican waters recently. Is this a new trend in drug smuggling?
These fiberglass boats are often referred to as “narco submarines”, which sounds much sexier than what they really are, which is self-propelled semi submersibles, or SPSS. These SPSS are custom made boats built by drug traffickers to smuggle drugs from Colombia to Mexico, where the drugs then go overland to the US. They are designed to ride very low in the water, so as not to be detected by radar. The propellers are down at the bottom to eliminate telltale white water at the surface. Bilge pumps are always working. They have no toilets.
Drug subs are manufactured, according to Insight Crime, in the thick jungles of Eastern Colombia, and have become far less primitive than the humble vessels found just a few years ago. They have sophisticated anti-detection features, complex GPS navigation systems, and can haul up to ten tons of cocaine, according to the Center for Maritime Security. A precise estimate of how many such vessels are being manufactured and put into use each year is impossible. Suffice it to say that the Center estimates that dozens of these subs are being churned out annually – and few are being intercepted once launched.
According to the Center for International Maritime Security, “American operation analysis shows that even with good intelligence of a drug event, a surface vessel operating alone has only a five percent chance of detection.” Local fishermen are often used as look-outs for authorities, and SPSS have even been known to be towed by fishing vessels who simply drop the tow line if they see trouble, allowing the vessels to sink underwater to hide until the trouble passes. If boats are intercepted, narco sub crew members typically scuttle the vessel via a system of sophisticated drainage valves, and millions of dollars worth of drug evidence sink to the ocean floor.

It is estimated that 30% of maritime flow of drugs from South America up through Central America (including Costa Rica), is transported via drug subs. Sometimes these vessels just get their cargo close to the coast and drop it to be picked up by a recreational craft that will not arouse suspicion. The packages of drugs are wrapped with several layers of material, then waterproofed with spray-on foam. The drop off locations are co-ordinated via GPS devices. The system functions virtually seamlessly.
The issue of greatest concern to US authorities, is the possible escalation of cargo shipments which might include more than just drugs, i.e., weapons, violent extremists, or most alarming, weapons of mass destruction.
Rear Admiral Joseph Nimmich told the New York Times in an interview about the danger of submersibles, “If you can carry ten tons of cocaine, you can carry ten tons of anything.”
 

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