THE US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) said a 100-foot (30-meter) submarine built to traffic narcotics was seized in Ecuador.
The diesel-powered sub, stopped in a jungle waterway near the Colombian border by Ecuadorian authorities working in conjunction with the DEA, was thought to be the first ever built by drug traffickers to smuggle tons of cocaine thousands of miles.
“The submarine’s nautical range, payload capacity and quantum leap in stealth have raised the stakes for the counter-drug forces and the national security community alike,” DEA Andean Regional Director Jay Bergman said.
One person was also detained at the time of the sub’s seizure.
It was unclear how the sub – fitted with a periscope, conning tower and air-conditioning – would travel, but engineers were expected to examine it to learn how sophisticated its operations might be.
“There is a sense of urgency for naval engineers and submariners to take a look at this thing and dissect it and take it apart and figure out what its real capabilities were,” Bergman said.
“The police have seized this structure, but the people that need to get on there are naval engineers.”
The vessel’s owners were not known.
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