Spanish police have intercepted what is believed to be the first submarine used to smuggle drugs into Europe and seized a reported three tonnes of Colombian cocaine.
Police sources say that the 20-metre-long submarine, thought to be similar to those used by drug traffickers to transport cocaine from Colombia to Mexico and the US, was detected in waters off the northwestern region of Galicia when its three-man crew got into difficulties due to engine problems.
In the early hours of Sunday morning two Ecuadorian men were arrested, but a manhunt continues for a third member of the gang, who is reported to be a Spanish citizen.
Before attempting to escape on land at the entry of one of Galicia’s many narrow bays and inlets, the submarine crew deliberately sank the vessel with a large amount of cocaine still on board after reportedly dumping some of their cargo at sea.
The Spanish government’s delegate in Galicia, Javier Losada, said that the operation to intercept the submarine had been coordinated together with other international security forces, adding that the authorities were trying to refloat the sunken vessel.
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“For now what we know is that drugs are on board because a diver was able to enter the contraption. But we won’t be able to know the exact quantity until it can be extracted and weighed,” Mr Losada said on Monday.
US Coast Guard
Helicopters and flotation equipment have been sent to the area near Couso point, just north of Vigo, but Galicia’s maritime rescue resources are currently stretched due to an ongoing operation to salvage the Blue Star, a chemical tanker that ran aground last week near Ferrol.
According to a reconstruction of events by the newspaper La Voz de Galicia, both the DEA and Portuguese investigators had information on the movements of the submarine, which they believe made a stopover in Cape Verde and was also detected on the coast of Portugal.
Police investigators believe that the crew had attempted to rendezvous at sea with a fishing vessel to offload the drugs, but the drop-off did not work out and the submarine was forced to return close to the shore with technical problems including a lack of fuel.
At around 3am on Sunday, the police spotted the submarine’s bow around 80 metres off Praia do Foxo beach, prompting the crewmen to abandon ship after opening a hatch to sink the vessel at a depth believed to be less than 10 metres.
The three men in wetsuits then swam ashore carrying bags. It is not clear how the one that got away managed to elude the authorities.
In 2006, the authorities in the same area of Galicia, a traditional entry point into Spain for cocaine, found a homemade submarine that had been abandoned, but this is the first time such a vessel has been caught in action.