US Coast Guard
US Coast Guard boarding team members climb aboard a suspected smuggling vessel in September.
- A Coast Guard cutter intercepted a "narco sub" carrying 12,000 pounds of cocaine in the Pacific Ocean this month.
- "Narco subs" have become increasingly popular with smugglers, as they can carry huge drug loads and are hard to detect.
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Coast Guard crew members aboard the cutter Valiant intercepted a self-propelled semi-submersible carrying 12,000 pounds of cocaine in the eastern Pacific Ocean this month, arresting four suspected smugglers in the process.
The 40-foot vessel, of a type often called a "narco sub" (though most are not fully submersible), was first detected and tracked by a maritime patrol aircraft. The Joint Interagency Task Force South, a multinational body that coordinates law-enforcement efforts in the waters around Central and South America, directed the Valiant to intercept it.
A Coast Guard release didn't give an exact date for the seizure, saying only that it took place in September and the Valiant arrived on the scene after sunset.
US Coast Guard
Coast Guard crew members aboard a "narco sub" in the Pacific Ocean with a suspected smuggler, September 2019.
The cutter launched two small boats carrying members of its crew and two members of the Coast Guard Pacific Tactical Law Enforcement Team. They caught up with the narco sub in the early morning hours and boarded it with the help of the Colombian navy, which arrived a short time later.
The crew members transferred more than 1,100 pounds of cocaine from the sub to the Valiant but were unable to get the rest because of concerns about the sub's stability. (The total value of the drugs was estimated at more than $165 million.)
"This interdiction was an all-hands-on-deck evolution, and each crew member performed above and beyond the call of duty," Cmdr. Matthew Waldron, commanding officer of the Valiant, said in the release.
2 'momentous events'
US Coast Guard
Members of a US Coast Guard cutter Valiant boarding team transfer narcotics between an interceptor boat and a suspected smuggling vessel in September.
Narco subs have appeared in the waters between the US and South America for years and have only gotten more sophisticated. But they are still homemade vessels, often built in jungles in Colombia, and can be unsteady on the open ocean, particularly when law enforcement stop them to board.
Narco subs typically cost $1 million to $2 million to built, but their multimillion-dollar drug cargoes more than make up for the expense.
"Colombian traffickers like to use the semi-submersibles because they are hard to detect" and cheaper than full-fledged submarines, Mike Vigil, former director of international operations at the US Drug Enforcement Administration, told Business Insider in 2018.
The vessels are typically made of fiberglass and the most expensive component is the engine. Some even have lead linings to reduce their infrared signature, Vigil said.
US Coast Guard
Bales of cocaine seized from a suspected smuggling vessel on the deck of the US Coast Guard cutter Valiant in September.
The Coast Guard in late 2017 said it had seen a "resurgence" of low-profile smuggling vessels like narco subs.
"We're seeing more of these low-profile vessels - 40-plus feet long ... it rides on the surface, multiple outboard engines, moves 18, 22 knots ... and they can carry large loads of contraband," Coast Guard commandant Adm. Karl Schultz told Business Insider in an October 2018 interview.
Schultz and other Coast Guard officials pointed to narco subs as a sign of smugglers' ability to adapt to pressure. The service has pursued what Schultz called a "push-out-the-border strategy," sending ships into the Pacific to bust drugs at the point in the smuggling process when the loads are the largest.
For the Valiant, that meant this particular bust coincided with a mariner's milestone: crossing the equator.
"There are no words to describe the feeling Valiant crew is experiencing right now," Waldron said. "In a 24-hour period, the crew both crossed the equator and intercepted a drug-laden self-propelled semi-submersible vessel."
Both are "momentous events in any cutterman's career," Waldron added. "Taken together, however, it is truly remarkably unprecedented."