Background on narco subs

Dear readers,

The lines below are a translation of an article written by Jose Melendez, from San Jose, CR. It was published in El Universal (Mexico City) on Sunday, July 20, 2008. It appears linked in this notebook.

Narco Submerges to Elude Radars
Traffic Along Colombia - Mexico Route Using Submarines
by Jose Melendez, correspondent for El Universal
translation by Marc Van Riper

A small submersible attempted to cross the Panama canal, tied to the propellers of a ship, to carry 35 kilos of cocaine to Europe, during May of this year. Two other small submarines were detected in front of the coasts of Guatemala and Costa Rica, in the Pacific Ocean, in 2006 and 2007, with 8 (metric) tonnes of cocaine on board.

The police conclusion is to be on alert. The Mexican and Colombian narco traffic cartels made a technological jump with 'narco submarines' to elude radars, travel at low speed (12 to 20 km per hour) self-reload fuel and traffic drugs along a maritime corridor from Colombia to Mexico along a vulnerable Pacific route.

"Like Colombia says, it can be calculated that the narco maffias place 65 submersibles at sea, every year", said captain Ruben Samudio, from the Maritime Service of Panama. "It is new technology with requirements of conventional submarines. The Colombian narco guerrilla can contract engineers and specialists and pay to build these vessels", he declared to El Universal.

Built with fiberglass, they do not submerge completely. "They sail flush with the surface of the ocean and elude radars" and sometimes are supplied by merchant ships, he added. Despite the fact they can be discovered by helicopter patrols, bad weather and other factors help them escape.

A police surprise was recorded last May, when a submersible with three Cypriots on board was found with chains tied to the propellers of a ship that was preparing to cross the Panama Canal, from the Pacific to the Atlantic.

A vessel 14 meters long and 2 meters wide, with fuel tanks and 3,000 kilos of cocaine, detected at the end of 2006, in front of the Pacific coast of Cosa Rica, and a 'semisubmersible' with 5 metric tonnes of cocaine, located in front of (the coastline of) Guatemala, activated the police alarms of the isthmus (of Central America). The narco submarine(s) sail the waters of the area at least since the year 2000, according to sources.

A link to the original of this article in Spanish is offered below.

Original article in Spansih - El Universal: http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/nacion/161077.html

Note: 65 vessels x 5 tonnes (payload) = 325 metric tonnes (per year). This is only a rough estimate, probably on the low side. Probably most of this freight is moving towards the US. This is freight originating from Colombia only. The (current) demand for such freight inside the US appears to warrant such logistical activities.