"The First Narco Submarine Ever Seized Off A European" Topic

…Coast Is A Monster.

"Spanish authorities have successfully recovered a so-called narco submarine that they seized in the Eastern Atlantic Ocean off the coast of the country's Galacia region this past weekend. This is the first time any country in Europe has seized one of these smuggling vessels and it's not entirely clear how it made the thousands-of-miles-long journey from Latin America.

Spain's Guardia Civil, National Police, and Customs Service captured the craft off Galacia on Nov. 24, 2019. The crew had attempted to scuttle it after failing to transfer the approximately three tons of cocaine onboard to another vessel due to poor weather. Those same conditions prevented Spanish security forces from refloating the drug sub until late the next day. They then towed it to port and it has now been pulled out of the water for further inspection…"

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Wow!… No word yet on where did it come from, and did it do the journey across the Atlantic (in primarily bad weather) by itself…

Amicalement
Armand

I'm willing to bet it came from North Africa, instead.

Probably was loaded by a cargo vessel offshore, there.

Ye gads, I was expecting something pretty dinky i.e. could have been shipped over the Atlantic in an ISO! Worrisome that someone is knocking out illicit semi-submersible vessels (I'm guessing its not a true sub) of that size and know one seems to have noticed. I could think of a few non-state actors who if they could get their grubby hands on and weaponise such a beast could cause all kinds of havoc in international shipping lanes…

Hmm, curious as to where these are being built. Not the sort of thing you knock up in the back garden.

It makes you wonder how many are not seized and are out there operating. Organized criminal organizations can be very powerful.

You can probably build something like that in any suitably sized industrial unit, probably don't even need a proper boat yard and slipway, but then you've got to move it! Though I guessing there are places in S America where you really don't pay attention to unusual traffic on the roads… or anything else for that matter!

(smile)

Amicalement
Armand

Yep, they have lots of cash to spend, with the BILLIONS in revenue they make annually, and/or monthly.

From most accounts I've read/heard, seems we catch about 10% on average, and perhaps 20% during an unusually good period.

One show I watched showed one being made in a backwater canal/river, out in the middle of the jungle, in South America. Don't know where they got the sheetmetal from, and how they bent it in the field, but welding equipment and gas tanks are certainly quite portable.

I've done enough fabrication out of the back of a pickup to know just how easy it is to work out in the field. As far as metal bending, looks like there are portable units.

In mining, we've something called a Jim Crow used for bending rail. Older units are hand-cranked and remind me of a giant grease line crimper; newer ones are hydraulic. Wouldn't be hard to run a Powerteam pump off a welder/generator, and use the pump to power a hydraulic bender.