# Sub Seized Off Costa Rica



## AWP (Nov 20, 2006)

100 miles off the coast in a 50-foot homemade sub?:eek: 

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/americas/11/20/costa.rica.sub.ap/index.html

Homemade sub captured with 3 tons of cocaine

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (AP) -- Tipped off by three plastic pipes mysteriously skimming the ocean's surface, authorities seized a homemade submarine packed with 3 tons of cocaine off Costa Rica's Pacific coast.

Four men traveled inside the 50-foot wood and fiberglass craft, breathing through the pipes. The craft sailed along at about 7 mph, just 6 feet beneath the surface, Security Minister Fernando Berrocal said Sunday.

The submarine was spotted Friday 103 miles (166 kilometers) off the coast near Cabo Blanco National Park on the Nicoya peninsula.

"This is the first time in the country's history that a craft with these characteristics has been caught near the national coasts," Berrocal said in a statement.

U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents, FBI and Colombian officials aided Costa Rican authorities in the operation, Berrocal said.

Two Colombians, a Guatemalan and a Sri Lankan were arrested and taken to the United States, since they were captured in international waters, Berrocal said.

Officials took the submarine to a Costa Rican Coast Guard station and were trying to determine its origins, the Security Ministry said. It was found with several tanks of gas, but Costa Rican authorities said the vessel, which had a bailer to keep out water, probably did not travel far.

So far this year, Costa Rican authorities have seized 18 tons of cocaine.

In March, the Colombian navy seized a 60-foot fiberglass submarine that likely was used to haul tons of cocaine out to speedboats in the Pacific Ocean for transportation to Central America and on to the United States. Three people were arrested and two speedboats seized during the operation, but no drugs were found.

Colombian authorities say smuggling cocaine by sea has become the top method of transport in recent years, as radar systems have made it difficult to smuggle drugs in small airplanes.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.


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## Marauder06 (Nov 20, 2006)

I was just about the create a thread about this, pretty interesting stuff even though this particular craft was pretty amaturish.


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## Max Power (Nov 20, 2006)

The drug cartels have some pretty interesting waterborne craft that they use, so I'm not too surprised to hear about this.  I'm actually surprised that this is the first time its happened.


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## Marauder06 (Nov 20, 2006)

I read an article on MSN that said this was actually the third time authorities have captured / prevented cartels from acquiring subs.


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## Boondocksaint375 (Nov 20, 2006)

What ,the whole puppy smuggling thing didnt work.


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## DDSSDV (Nov 20, 2006)

Try breathing thru a snorkel 6 ft. in length. Impossible. The pipes these boys was huffin" musta been BIG. You would think with all of the money made and Russian hardware for sale, they could have done "better" than that. Insane desperate people out there.


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## Queen Beach (Nov 24, 2006)

So this is what one looks like eh?


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## Typhoon (Dec 12, 2006)

> You would think with all of the money made and Russian hardware for sale, they could have done "better" than that.


As I recall there were a group of drug smugglers from one of the major cartels who attempted to do just that a few years ago, and were caught trying to buy an old Soviet nuclear submarine...


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## Paddlefoot (Dec 12, 2006)

I think I heard a report that it wasn't truly a sub, but it was a craft designed to ride very low in the water, almost flush with the surface, thus evading detection by surface radar.


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