Homemade submarine full of cocaine seized off Mexico

Phantasee · Post by **Phantasee** » 2008-07-17 01:17am

Submarine, homemade and cocaine-laden, is seized off Mexico
By Marla Dickerson
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

10:08 PM PDT, July 16, 2008

MEXICO CITY — The nation's drug wars sank to new depths Wednesday as the Mexican navy announced it had seized a submarine that was transporting cocaine off the southern coast.

The navy intercepted the 33-foot vessel about 125 miles south of Puerto de Salina Cruz in Oaxaca state.

Jose Luis Vergara, a navy spokesman, said in a radio interview that special forces waited until the vessel surfaced before rappelling from helicopters and overpowering the four-man crew.

Vergara called the submarine bust unprecedented for the navy.

"There were a lot of packages," he said. "It appears to be cocaine."

The navy provided no information on the identities or nationalities of the suspects.

Colombian authorities have captured more than a dozen such vessels over the last couple of years.

Law enforcement experts say the homemade subs are becoming ever more sophisticated.

Meanwhile, Mexico's drug wars claimed another high-ranking law enforcement official.

Salomon Diaz, a Sinaloa state police commander, was shot dead by suspected drug gang hit men in the troubled western state, where more than 300 people have died in drug-related violence this year.

They're fucking with me, right? A dozen homemade subs? These druglords are outdoing the Canadian Navy! (Reminds me of when West Edmonton Mall had a larger subarine fleet than the Navy here).

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2008-07-17 01:33am

I wonder if they'll eventually try to buy an old military diesel-electric submarine. Imagine how much cocaine you could pack into a Foxtrot.

Fingolfin_Noldor · Post by **Fingolfin_Noldor** » 2008-07-17 01:34am

Nothing new. The Tamil Rebels in Sri Lanka were producing a few these in the jungles of Thailand.

The Duchess of Zeon · Post by **The Duchess of Zeon** » 2008-07-17 01:56am

Uraniun235 wrote:I wonder if they'll eventually try to buy an old military diesel-electric submarine. Imagine how much cocaine you could pack into a Foxtrot.

That sounds like an episode of SeaQuest.

Post by **fgalkin** » 2008-07-17 02:12am

Uraniun235 wrote:I wonder if they'll eventually try to buy an old military diesel-electric submarine. Imagine how much cocaine you could pack into a Foxtrot.

They actually tried that way back in 1997.

Their most brazen plot, the authorities say, was negotiating to buy a submarine in the former Soviet Union for $5.5 million to transport cocaine from Colombia to the United States and Canada. It would be far-fetched, Drug Enforcement Administration officials said, if this were not Miami, the North American operations center for cocaine traffickers.

linky

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

Superman · Post by **Superman** » 2008-07-17 02:16am

The most shocking part about that article is that Mexico has a navy.

PeZook · Post by **PeZook** » 2008-07-17 03:52am

You can buy a Russian submarine for 5.5 million?

Fingolfin_Noldor · Post by **Fingolfin_Noldor** » 2008-07-17 06:58am

PeZook wrote:You can buy a Russian submarine for 5.5 million?

Old, used, creaking, why not?

CmdrWilkens · Post by **CmdrWilkens** » 2008-07-17 09:35am

PeZook wrote:You can buy a Russian submarine for 5.5 million?

You can buy it, but I doubt there is a garuntee that it will make the trans-atlantic voayage to become actually useful.

PeZook · Post by **PeZook** » 2008-07-17 09:54am

CmdrWilkens wrote: You can buy it, but I doubt there is a garuntee that it will make the trans-atlantic voayage to become actually useful.

I just need one to cruise around the Baltic in style, so that's okay

Heh, I wonder if a bunch of drug runners could actually operate a diesel submarine. It's not a nuke-powered one, but it's still pretty easy to sink it yourself if you don't know what the hell you're doing.

...and especially if everything is marked in Cyryllic

Pelranius · Post by **Pelranius** » 2008-07-17 10:33am

They still feel cocky enough to try, apparently.

If they did get an old Foxtrot, filled it with cocaine and then accidentally sunk it, would eating fish caught in the vicinity get one high?

Death from the Sea · Post by **Death from the Sea** » 2008-07-17 10:37am

Pelranius wrote:They still feel cocky enough to try, apparently.

If they did get an old Foxtrot, filled it with cocaine and then accidentally sunk it, would eating fish caught in the vicinity get one high?

probably not as the drug traffickers generally place their drugs into water tight packaging to help preserve them.

Solauren · Post by **Solauren** » 2008-07-17 10:42am

Pelranius wrote:They still feel cocky enough to try, apparently.

If they did get an old Foxtrot, filled it with cocaine and then accidentally sunk it, would eating fish caught in the vicinity get one high?

That would depend on the submarine getting a hole in the hull, and the fish surviving exposure to the cocaine, and the cocaine not be diluted by the salt water or chemically neutralized.

CaptainChewbacca · Post by **CaptainChewbacca** » 2008-07-17 11:15am

About the Russian sub that the Colombians tried to buy; When brokering the deal, the guy asked the drug lords 'Do you want it with, or without the missiles?' The missiles would've been an extra $1 mil.

Kodiak · Post by **Kodiak** » 2008-07-17 12:42pm

MEXICO CITY — The nation's drug wars sank to new depths Wednesday as the Mexican navy announced it had seized a submarine that was transporting cocaine off the southern coast.

I'm not sure which is worse, the puns or the trafficking

I remember once being at a conference w/ the Chief of Staff of the USCG who said that in one drug bust they typically seize cocaine which has a street value LARGER than their annual operating budget

As long as this is big business, it'll keep happening.

Raj Ahten · Post by **Raj Ahten** » 2008-07-17 01:13pm

Well assuming drug smugglers could get there hands on an SSK they could probably hire some mercenaries to crew it. South American cartels have been known to hire outside mercenary help that is quite professional.

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2008-07-17 03:52pm

The Duchess of Zeon wrote:
Uraniun235 wrote:I wonder if they'll eventually try to buy an old military diesel-electric submarine. Imagine how much cocaine you could pack into a Foxtrot.
That sounds like an episode of SeaQuest.

I think in SeaQuest it was smuggled diamonds.

CaptainChewbacca wrote:About the Russian sub that the Colombians tried to buy; When brokering the deal, the guy asked the drug lords 'Do you want it with, or without the missiles?' The missiles would've been an extra $1 mil.

What kind of missiles and how many? That sounds like it either didn't really happen that way, or they were trying to push defective merchandise.

Venator · Post by **Venator** » 2008-07-17 04:59pm

CaptainChewbacca wrote:About the Russian sub that the Colombians tried to buy; When brokering the deal, the guy asked the drug lords 'Do you want it with, or without the missiles?' The missiles would've been an extra $1 mil.

Are we talking ASMs or ICBMs? I doubt they'd sell the latter, even without nuclear payload... but still.

FSTargetDrone · Post by **FSTargetDrone** » 2008-07-17 05:09pm

Superman wrote:The most shocking part about that article is that Mexico has a navy.

Not too surprising. The country has an extensive coastline and issues with elements of countries to its south. Not to mention its oil rigs and such that need protection.

FSTargetDrone · Post by **FSTargetDrone** » 2008-07-17 05:11pm

Forgot to include a link to some pictures and brief information of current Mexican Naval Vessels.

Marko Dash · Post by **Marko Dash** » 2008-07-17 08:43pm

didn't something like this happen awhile back with Cuban drug-runners and a WW1 U-boat?

Kanastrous · Post by **Kanastrous** » 2008-07-17 09:42pm

The Duchess of Zeon wrote:
Uraniun235 wrote:I wonder if they'll eventually try to buy an old military diesel-electric submarine. Imagine how much cocaine you could pack into a Foxtrot.
That sounds like an episode of SeaQuest.

I wish we'd done something like that, on seaQuest.

Darth Ruinus · Post by **Darth Ruinus** » 2008-07-17 10:27pm

FSTargetDrone wrote:
Superman wrote:The most shocking part about that article is that Mexico has a navy.
Not too surprising. The country has an extensive coastline and issues with elements of countries to its south. Not to mention its oil rigs and such that need protection.

I think they also arrived to help out in New Orleans before America did.

KlavoHunter · Post by **KlavoHunter** » 2008-07-18 02:17am

Didn't they find a mafia-owned submarine in Italy?

ANGELUS · Post by **ANGELUS** » 2008-07-18 12:26pm

Superman wrote:The most shocking part about that article is that Mexico has a navy.

Why exactly?

StarDestroyer.Net BBS

Homemade submarine full of cocaine seized off Mexico

Homemade submarine full of cocaine seized off Mexico

Re: Homemade submarine full of cocaine seized off Mexico