A submarine that wears 6.5 tons of cocaine is trapped in one of the largest drug busts of its kind.
The ship was on its way to Europe from Brazil when it was intercepted by the Portuguese police in an operation in which the British Crime Agency was involved earlier this week.
After they had taken the smugglers in their semi-hundred compounds about 500 miles south of the Azores Islands off the coast of Africa, the police found £ 530 million on cocaine on board.
Five alleged members of the criminal organization traveled on board the ship – three Brazilian men, a Colombian and a Spaniard.
All five men were arrested and transferred to the Portuguese island of Sao Miguel.
The arrests mark the first time that a semi-hij plumage of drug smuggling has been intercepted in the open sea, the Spanish authorities claimed.
The ship is considered one of the largest ever built with the aim of transporting drugs between continents, a Portuguese newspaper reported.
“The human traffickers were planning to collect the drugs near the coast with the help of high -speed ships and to smuggle them ashore,” a statement from the Guardia Civil of Spain.
The semi-submarine was traced by the police in the Atlantic Ocean in one of the greatest drugbusts of its kind
The police found 6.5 tons of cocaine worth an estimated £ 530 million on board the ship earlier this week
Five alleged members of the criminal organization were found on board – three Brazilian men, a Colombian and a Spaniard
'The transatlantic movement of semi-submersibles is increasingly frequent, with various cases in recent years.
“This type of vessels are difficult to detect and often wear a large amount of cocaine … The crew can easily sink if they are caught, making it more difficult to restore the medicines as proof of crime.”
Luis Neves, a Portuguese chef, said that the operation “had inflicted a hard blow to a very powerful organization.”
Criminal drug trafficking operations are increasingly using semi – under and submarines – those submarines that only partially immerse partially immerse under the surface of the water – to transport drugs abroad.
The police first intercepted a Narco-submmarine in 2019 when a ship with 3.3 tons of cocaine off the coast of Spain was discovered. After it was built in a Brazilian jungle, the ship went over the Atlantic Ocean from Colombia, South America.
Since then, both the Spanish and the British police have intercepted a number of 'Narco-subs' on their way to Europe.
In September 2024, Royal Navy Commandos stormed their first semi-hundred compounds of the drug ship during a patrol in the Caribbean.
The semi-hundred compounds in which the smugglers were traveling is considered one of the largest ever built to transport cocaine between continents, a Portuguese newspaper reported that reported
Portuguese police were able to intercept the ship with the help of the British Crime Agency after he was tipped by the Spanish authorities
Criminal drug smuggling organizations are increasingly transporting drugs over continents using Narco-Onderzeeos
A semi-submersible is a submarine that is only partially under water under the water
A cost team consisting of Royal Marines of 47 Command, specialist sailors and staff of the American Coast Guard, clambered on board a submarine off the coast of the Dominican Republic they found to wear £ 160 million cocaine.
And in a huge bust in December last year, three 'Narco-submmm-marines' $ 12 billion drugs were intercepted from South America to Australia by the Colombian Navy.
1,400 tons of medicines were seized during an operation in which the security authorities of the United States, Brazil, Spain, the Netherlands and a number of other operations were involved.
More than 400 people were also arrested during the performance.
