Spanish police say they have seized a homemade narcosubmarine capable of carrying up to 2 metric tons (2.2 tons) of cargo
MADRID – Spanish police announced on Friday that they seized a homemade narcotics submarine capable of carrying up to 2 metric tons (2.2 tons) of cargo.
Police found the 9-meter-long (30-foot-long) boat last month while it was being built in Malaga, on the Costa del Sol, in southern Spain, during a larger international drug operation than involved five more countries and the European Union agency against crime. Europol.
The 3-meter-wide (10-foot-wide) semi-submersible boat is made of fiberglass and plywood panels attached to a structural frame, has three hatches on one side and is painted light blue. It has two 200-horsepower engines running from the inside.
Rafael Perez, head of the Spanish police, said the ship had never sailed.
“We think I would go to sea to meet a mother ship (a) to embark on the drug,” probably the cocaine, before returning to Spain, Perez told reporters.
“It’s like an iceberg,” he said of the ship’s structure. “In practice, almost everything goes underwater apart from the top, which is the only part you would see from another boat or helicopter.”
Similar drug trafficking vessels have been discovered in the past in the Atlantic Ocean, especially in Central and South America. They sit in the water to escape detection and can rarely be completely submerged.
The largest police operation against the alleged international smuggling ring reduced hundreds of kilos of cocaine, hashish and marijuana to various locations in Spain, with 52 people arrested.
Spanish police said in a statement that police in Colombia, the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Portugal were also involved in the operation.