Border Patrol intercepts a quasi-submarine smuggling cocaine

A self-powered semi-submersible vessel carrying 4 tons of cocaine was caught off of Mexico’s Pacific coast, mentioned Customs and Border Protection.

The vessel was not a real submarine, because it was not fully underwater. Instead, it operated principally underwater, serving to hold the remaining low to the floor and due to this fact being more durable to catch.

That didn’t cease CBP Air and Marine Operations from catching it. A crew in a Lockheed P-3 Orion surveillance airplane noticed the 85-foot-long vessel in waters southwest of Mexico.

“The P-3 Aircrew detected, tracked, and led the interdiction of this SPSS by one of our partners.  This seizure kept over 84 million dollars in illicit proceeds from going to transnational criminal organizations,” mentioned National Air Security Operations Center – Corpus Christi Director of Air and Marine Operations Marshall Dillon.