Drug smuggling

Narco-Submarine Interdicted By U.S. Coast Guard: What’s Interesting About This Drug-Smuggling Vessel

As the guardsmen's searchlights dance across the swell, they briefly illuminate a shadowy vessel barely showing above the surface. Most of the Low-Profile Vessel, sometimes described as a Semi-Submersible by law enforcement, is below the waterline. This stealthy vessel, shown in a video released Monday by the U.S. Coast Guard, was carrying 12,000 pounds of cocaine with a street value of over $165 million when it was interdicted by the Coast Guard Cutter Valiant in the Pacific Ocean near South America. It's the 22nd reported this year.

The so-called 'narco-subs' phenomenon is on the increase. Last year there was a bumper crop with 37 incidents reported and this year is not far behind.

There are a couple of things which are not widely known about these vessels. The first is that most are mass produced in secret jungle workshops. This means near-identical copies produced in multiple batches over years. Although many designs look very similar to untrained eyes, each master boat builder leaves their personal mark in the way they express their ideas. Subtle design choices act as a fingerprint to connect separate reported incidents. In this way, thanks to my database of incidents, I can suggest that the narco-sub the Coast Guard shone a spotlight on Monday is the 8th discovered from this specific lineage. On March 30, Mexican forces found an identical vessel, and on June 18 the Coast Guard Cutter Munro captured yet another example.