Drug smuggling

Narco subs: Texas mobilises to stem invasion of narcotic carrying submarines


BURIED deep in the jungles of South America are covert shipyards.
They’re hand-building submarines. And they’re churning out dozens every year.
They have just one job to do.
Covertly carry tons of cocaine, along with crews of armed smugglers.
They skim just beneath the surface of the Carribbean and Pacific, out of sight and under the radar of law enforcement ships and aircraft.
They’re usually headed towards Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico. But some make their way even further north.
They’re often built of wood. But they’re coated with fibreglass, to make them watertight.
Most only just break the surface, with hose pipes bringing in air for the crew and their motors.
But some are made of steel and are truly submersible, using snorkels to breathe and periscopes to see.
“They are very important for the smuggling of Colombian cocaine up into the North American market,” Scott Stewart of Stratfor, an international issues think tank, told ABC America.