US Coast guard seizes a ‘Narcos’ submarine in the pacific ocean carrying 12,000 pounds of cocaine.
US Coast guard’s cutter which goes by the name ‘Valiant’ was carrying out a routine patrol earlier this month in the Pacific ocean when it intercepted a self-propelled submarine 40 feet long. It was carrying 5,400kg of cocaine, estimated to be over $165 million.
The #Florida @USCG Cutter Valiant took down a narco sub carrying 12k lbs of cocaine in the #EasternPacific, cutting approximately $165 mil from smuggler pockets.
More info and photos here: https://t.co/mSb28nTIzF pic.twitter.com/hS5kRVtV3f
— USCGSoutheast (@USCGSoutheast) September 24, 2019
Due to security reasons, only 500 Kg was removed from the vessel. Another thousand kilos of cocaine could not be removed due to safety and stability issues. The perpetrators were taken into custody.
The four captured smugglers — Enrique Mantilla-Olaya, Fausto Hurtado-Candelo, Wiber Tenorio-Rodriguez, and Fernando Tribino-MIna — are being prosecuted in Tampa by the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Though they spoke Spanish, the submarine’s country of origin was not clear.
As the U.S. P-3 Orion patrol plane flew by, the crew of the narco-submarine began throwing bales of cocaine overboard. It wasn’t enough to destroy the evidence. All three crewmen were later picked up by a Costa Rican Coast Guard cutter. This drug sub interdiction, in the Eastern Pacific on January 2, was the first of 2020.
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