Cocaine submarine? Wouldn’t it dissolve in water?

First thought that I had when I saw the article; swear to God.

Officials seize cocaine submarine

Guatemalan and US authorities have seized a makeshift submarine loaded with cocaine with a US street value of $200m (£120m).

The submarine, which had 10 tonnes of cocaine on board, was arrested by the coast guard some 280km (175 miles) off Guatemala’s Pacific coast.

My second thought was that if I was smuggling 200 million dollars worth of anything I’d probably want to avoid using a transport device that could be described as ‘makeshift;’ but then, I’m not a smuggler.

3 thoughts on “Cocaine submarine? Wouldn’t it dissolve in water?”

  1. Trouble is, Moe, this bust won’t raise the price of cocaine by much at all, if anything. That’s how much is getting through.

    They’ll just send another ten tons tomorrow. Sigh. Most of the time I think of how harmful that stuff is to society in general. The next minute I think of what a shambles the “war” on drugs is making of property rights and honest law enforcement. Then I have to take a couple of aspirin and a nap because all that thinking is wearing.

  2. They’re “makeshift” by the standards of the US Navy, but in the last couple of years, we’re seeing improved designs for smuggling submersibles. Don’t think “CSS Hunley”; these are significantly better boats (albeit intended for one-shot use), costing an estimated $1M each to build. Check out

    http://www.eaglespeak.us/search/label/Bad%20Subs

    for more details, as well as a whole mess of links to information on the subject. The Coast Guard also has an interesting presentation at

    http://www.uscg.mil/comdt/all_hands/docs/SPSS%20Background.pdf

    Also remember that the $200M figure is “street value”, and it only has that kind of value if you can get it to the US. The drug-runners know they’re going to lose some of the semi-submersible craft, either to interdiction efforts or weather; it’s just the cost of doing business. After all, “…even *I* get boarded sometimes”, you know.

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