A sinking self-propelled semi-submersible vessel was interdicted in the Western Caribbean Sea March 30, 2012 by the crews of the Coast Guard Cutter Decisive, Coast Guard Cutter Pea Island, Joint Interagency Task Force South (JIATF-S), and the Honduran Navy. (Source:. U.S. Coast Guard)
South Florida Crime
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – The U.S. Coast Guard has intercepted yet another drug smuggling, self-propelled semi-submersible vessel in the Western Caribbean Sea.
The interdiction of the so-called “drug sub” took place March 30th according to the Coast Guard.
These semi-submersible subs are used regularly to transport drugs in the Eastern Pacific and this interdiction is only the fifth Coast Guard interdiction of a “drug sub” in the Caribbean.
Four suspected smugglers were detained but the “drug sub” sank in thousands of feet of water which is very common.
Built in the jungles and remote areas of South America, the typical SPSS is less than 100 feet in length, with four to five crewmembers, and carries up to 10 metric tons of illicit cargo for distances up to 5,000 miles.
Drug traffickers design SPSS vessels to be difficult to spot and rapidly sink when they detect law enforcement, thereby making contraband recovery difficult.
