U.S. Coast Guard crew seizes $194m cocaine on mini-sub… that sank

A U.S. Coast Guard crew briefly seized more than six tonnes of cocaine from a semi-submersible vessel off Panama’s Pacific coast, officials said. The crew of a P-3 Long Range Tracker, working as part of a joint military-law-enforcement task force, picked up a self-propelled semi-submersible traveling in the eastern Pacific Ocean on March 2. The seizure was short-lived however, as the “semi-submersible became unstable and sank”, the CBP said in a release. Semi-submersible crafts used for drug smuggling are also referred to as “narco submarines”.

Our crews will continue to take every opportunity to disrupt this type of transnational criminal activity,

John Wassong, the director of the National Air Security Operations Center

The Coast Guardsmen had to enter the boat numerous times to retrieve the cocaine and evidence, including a loaded gun in the cockpit, according to Lt. Donnie Brzuska. Four people on board the craft were arrested. It is not clear how much of the illegal drugs were transferred to the coast guard vessel before the sub sank.

submarine cocaine