THE CRAFT FIRST surfaced like something out of a science-fiction movie. It was November 2006, and a Coast Guard cutter spotted a strange blur on the ocean 100 miles off Costa Rica. As the cutter approached, what appeared to be three snorkels poking up out of the water became visible. Then something even more surprising was discovered attached to the air pipes: a homemade submarine carrying four men, an AK-47 and three tons of cocaine.
This kind of vessel — a self-propelled, semisubmersible made by hand in the jungles of Colombia — is no longer quite so mythic: four were intercepted in January alone. But because of their ability to elude radar systems, these subs are almost impossible to detect; only an estimated 14 percent of them are stopped. And perhaps as many as 70 of them will be made this year, up from 45 or so in 2007, according to a task-force spokesman. Made for as little as $500,000 each and assembled in fewer than 90 days, they are now thought to carry nearly 30 percent of Colombia’s total cocaine exports.
Building a fully submersible submarine is complicated and indiscreet, requiring highly skilled workers and a manufacturing facility that’s too big to be easily hidden. The alternative: semisubmersibles that, though considerably smaller than the sub found in the warehouse, can carry five times as much cocaine as a common fishing vessel. Nimmich said the rise of semisubs has been traced to two unnamed men, a Pakistani and a Sri Lankan, who in early 2006 provided plans to the Colombians for building semisubs quickly, stealthily and out of cheap, commonly available materials. One of the biggest concerns when making a drug sub is that a laborer will reveal its location before the work is done. For this reason, the 15 or 20 people brought in to build a craft remain on site for the duration. They set up a campsite in the dense brush, relying on generators for electricity and make the ships by hand. When I asked Nimmich if he was impressed by their craftsmanship, he arched a brow and said: “You ever try to build something in your backyard? They’re building these in the jungles.”
via Drug-Sub Culture – The Latest Way to Get Cocaine Out of Colombia? Underwater. – NYTimes.com.
There is nobody as creative as a smuggler. We want it, they have it, and the lure of easy profit will always find a way to get it to us. If we found a foolproof way to stop every submarine, boat, airplane, cargo container, tunnel, and human being carrying drugs into our country, I swear drug runners would invent Mr. Scott’s transporter from Star Trek and just beam the drugs into America.
This story is about one of the drugs that doesn’t grow here in America. If we can’t stop cocaine because suppliers will go to the extreme of building half-million dollar clandestine jungle subs to transport it, what makes anybody think we have the slightest chance of stopping marijuana that can be grown in a college dorm room or rural yard? Prohibition of marijuana is the greatest “make work” jobs program ever for the criminal justice system; there will always be plenty of people to arrest and prosecute and the “crime” can never be eradicated.
