QUITO, (Reuters) – Ecuadorean authorities have discovered a 30-meter (98 foot)-long submarine being built near the country’s Pacific Coast designed to carry drugs toward the United States.
For years, U.S. and South American law enforcement officials have battled semi-submersible craft that travel just below the surface to avoid detection and take cocaine to Central America for trans-shipment to the United States.
The captured craft is the first designed to travel completely under water and was specially built for smuggling drugs, authorities said.
One person was arrested when Ecuadorean police, assisted by U.S. anti-drug intelligence, captured the diesel electric-powered submarine. Outfitted with a periscope and air conditioning, it was being readied for its maiden voyage.
“Its nautical range, payload capacity and quantum leap in stealth has raised the stakes for counter-drug forces and the national security community alike,” said Jay Bergman, Andean director for the U.S. Drug Enforce-ment Administration.
The Andean region is the world’s biggest producer of cocaine and the United States represents the largest market.
