Spanish police have confiscated this homemade narcotics submarine capable of carrying up to 2.2 tons of cargo.
Photo:
National Police / Associated Press
Spanish police said Friday they had confiscated a 30-foot-long narcotics submarine that could carry 2.2 tons of narcotics, a sign of the length of the cartels that will transport illegal drugs to the growing European market.
Police said they discovered drug trafficking in Malaga on the Spanish Costa del Sol last month as part of an international police operation that led to the arrest of 52 people and the seizure of more than 400 kilos of cocaine, along with other illegal drugs and cash.
The boat was made of fiberglass and plywood and powered by two 200-horsepower engines, though it had never sailed, police said.
Submarines are semi-submersibles that float mostly below the waterline and have been transporting cocaine for a long time from Colombia to Central America. In 2019, Spanish law enforcement discovered a narcosubter on the Spanish Atlantic coast, confirming the constant rumors that could reach Europe.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has said Europe may have overtaken the U.S. as the world’s largest cocaine market. Most cocaine shipments are hidden in container ships calling at large ports, such as Antwerp in Belgium and Rotterdam in the Netherlands.
Spanish police said the drug trafficking discovered last month was probably intended to transport cocaine ashore from a larger ship that would have carried a cargo across the Atlantic Ocean.
Write to James Marson to [email protected]
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