Drug Subs Pose Terror Threat To U.S.

Drug Sub

Drug subs pose terror risk to U.S. Skimming just below the surface, they are extremely difficult to detect from surveillance aircraft or patrol boats. Their sleek design, up to 80 feet in length, can secretly carry several tons of cargo thousands of miles.

These “semi-submersibles,” which exhibit some of the same characteristics as military submarines, mark a significant advancement in the ability of drug smugglers to slip past coastal defenses.

So far this year, the Coast Guard says it has encountered at least 27 such vessels headed toward the southern and western United States, more than in the previous six years combined, while far more are believed to have gone undetected, according to US military and law enforcement officials.

The growing number and increased sophistication of the vessels, officially designated “self-propelled semi-submersibles,” has set off alarms at the highest levels of the US military and the federal Department of Homeland Security. Counterterrorism officials fear that what drug runners now use to deliver cocaine, terrorists could one day use to sneak personnel or massive weapons into the United States.

Navy Admiral James Stavridis, commander of the US Southern Command, the Miami-based military command that concentrates on Latin America, warned in a recent military journal article, “If drug cartels can ship up to 10 tons of cocaine in a semi-submersible, they can clearly ship or rent space to a terrorist organization for a weapon of mass destruction or a high-profile terrorist.”

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U.S. and Mexico Law Enforcement Seized Sub Last Month

You might recall it was just last month that Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff  reported that U.S. intelligence led Mexican forces to a small submarine packed with 5.8 tons of cocaine.

Chertoff called the vessel’s seizure off Oaxaca state in southern Mexico “a great example of our cooperation.”

Mexican navy Vice Adm. Jose Maria Ortegon said the 30-foot (10-meter) green submarine was equipped with GPS and a compass, and its crew had planned to drop off its shipment on Mexican shores.

Authorities arrested four Colombian crew members who claim to be fishermen forced by drug cartels to move the cargo. They say they left the Colombian port of Buenaventura about a week before being captured.

Similar makeshift submarines carrying drugs have been discovered off Colombia and Central America, but the navy says the seizure was a first for Mexico.

U.S. officials say traffickers use the vessels to carry about 32 percent of the cocaine moved by water from South America to the U.S.

Costing about $1 million, the boats are usually painted to blend in with the color of the water. Many are capable of carrying more than 10 tons of cocaine and can be operated by remote control from hundreds of miles away, Allen said.