Cocaine Smugglers Turn to Submarines, Feds Say
CNN Homeland Security Correspondent
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The capture of two cocaine-laden semi-submarines in the past week has highlighted the increasing use of the vessels, which now transport one-third of illicit drugs in the eastern Pacific, a major route between Colombia and the United States, U.S. authorities said Friday.
This 60-foot semi-submersible vessel sank after U.S. authorities boarded it September 17.
The first seizure occurred September 12, when a Coast Guard team, under cover of darkness, boarded a 59-foot semi-submersible 370 nautical miles southwest of Guatemala.
The startled Colombian smugglers reversed the vessel in an effort to throw the boarding party overboard, but the Coast Guard was able to seize the craft, its four-person crew and its 237 bales of cocaine.
Just five days later, on Wednesday morning, a 60-foot semi-submersible was seized about 200 nautical miles south of Guatemala. As the boarding team unloaded the last few bales, the Coast Guard said, the unstable vessel began to take on water through its exhaust vents and sank. 
Watch what was found inside one of the subs »
Each boat carried about 7 tons of cocaineworth $196 million. . . Read More
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