Colombian military intercepts Central America-bound submarine with four tons of cocaine
PICTURED: Diesel-powered submarine loaded with FOUR tons of cocaine worth $145 million intercepted off Colombia’s coast and headed to Central America: Drug trafficker wanted by US for two years is nabbed aboard vessel
A submarine with four tons of cocaine was intercepted by the Armes Forces of Colombia on SundayThe shipment was the largest seized in two years and worth around $145 millionThe drugs were split in 4,000 bundles and were head to Central AmericaThe shipment belongs to a Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia dissident group known as the Alfonso Cano Western BlocFour men were arrested, including an Ecuadoran national wanted on drug trafficking charges by a U.S. federal court
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The Colombian military made its biggest cocaine bust in two years when it seized four tons of cocaine from a million-dollar submarine cruising through the Pacific Ocean off its coast – and carrying a drug trafficker hunted by the United States for nearly three years.
The drug shipment, with an estimated street value of $145 million, was reportedly bound for Central America when it was intercepted Sunday, a spokesperson for the Armed Forces of Colombia told reporters on Tuesday.
Four men were taken into custody, including an Ecuadoran national identified as Jorge P.B., who is wanted by a United States federal court on drug trafficking charges.
Servicemen with the Armed Forces of Colombia pry open the cover of a submarine after the military intercepted a million dollar vessel that was bound for Central America on Sunday. The submarine was transporting four tons of cocaine worth around $145 million. Four men, including an individual from Ecuador wanted by a United States court for drug trafficking, were taken into custody
The Colombian military said the four tons of cocaine were split into 4,000 plastic bundles and wrapped in plastic and and placed in 200 large bags
Jorge P.B., an Ecuadoran national who is wanted by a United States federal court on drug trafficking charges, was among the four men arrested after they were found inside the submarine with 4 tons of cocaine
The U.S. district court, which has not been identified, had formally requested his extradition with the government of Ecuador on August 16, 2019.
Jorge P.B. and the Colombian individuals were turned over Colombia’s Attorney General’s Office and charged with the manufacturing, possession or trafficking or drugs and the use, construction, promotion and possession of semi-submersibles or submersibles.
Video footage released by the Armed Forces of Colombia shows a serviceman standing over the vessel and pointing a rifle down into the submarine after its hatch had been opened.
The cocaine shipment belonged to a Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia dissident group known as the Alfonso Cano Western Bloc, which is under the command of Allende Perilla Sandoval, who traffics narcotics out of the Tumaco
Colombia’s military said the submarine used to ship four tons of cocaine is worth $1 million which was seized Sunday
The cocaine was split into 4,000 plastic bundles that were wrapped and placed in 200 large bags.
The shipment, which was seized 78 miles of the Nariño port city of Tumaco, was sufficient enough to be split in 10 million cocaine doses.
Colombia officials said the diesel-powered submarine was equipped to transport at least 5,000 kilos of cocaine.
The military added that at least eight tons of cocaine were confiscated from a similar vessel in September 2019.
The sub was intercepted in the Pacific Ocean, about 78 miles off Tumaco, a port city in the department of Nariño on Sunday
Armed Forces of Colombia soldiers inspect the submarine before removing four tons of cocaine that were bound for Central America before it was seized Sunday
Four men were caught inside a submarine with four tons of cocaine in Colombia on Sunday, the Armed Forces announced Tuesday. The shipment, the largest seized in the country in two years, was bound for Central America
The military said the drugs belonged to a Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) dissident group known as the Alfonso Cano Western Bloc, which is under the command of Allende Perilla Sandoval, who traffics narcotics out of the Tumaco.
Perilla Sandoval was also linked by the military to 4,256 kilos of cocaine that was seized from two speedboats off the coast of Punta Remedios, El Salvador, in January.
That shipment has a street value of approximately $166 million.
The latest record bust comes just days after the South American nation – and the United States chief partner in the war on drugs – announced that it was introducing a new strategy to fight drug trafficking.
Defense Minister Diego Molano said Thursday that the plan is aimed at controlling cyberspace to tackle criminal groups involved in the cocaine trade, as well as block their financial transactions.
Allende Perilla Sandoval, a high-ranking member within the Revolutionary Armes Forces of Colombia dissident group, Alfonso Cano Western Bloc, is said to be behind the shipment of four tons of cocaine that was seized by the Colombia military on Sunday
The ‘Esmeralda’ initiative, unveiled in the Caribbean city of Cartagena, will see support from 36 countries including the United States.
‘We hope to develop new and innovative tactics in the coming years in the fight against the global scourge of drugs,’ Molano said at the III International Anti-Drugs Congress.
Artificial intelligence will also be used to monitor the selling and trafficking of chemical ingredients used in drug making, to protect legal sales but prevent use in narcotics, he added.
Colombia is considered the world’s top cocaine producer. Illegal armed groups including leftist guerrillas and criminal gangs descended from right-wing paramilitaries are deeply involved in production and trafficking.
The South American country cut the size of coca crops, cocaine’s chief ingredient, by 7% in 2020, but potential production rose 8% to 1,228 tonnes a year, according to the United Nations.
Colombian authorities seized a record 672 tonnes of cocaine last year.
