Click image to watch Colombia’s Coke-Smuggling Submarine documentary video
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The drug trade has expanded and had to evolve over the years, in terms of how elusive it becomes to authorities and to ditch the outdated ways of transportation. In Colombia, they went from planes to boats and most recently, submarines, to ship cocaine to targeted destinations. This documentary explores the inner dealings of moving kilos through the ocean, from the aspect of police investigators trying to stop it from happening and from someone who used to deal with Cali Cartel drug traffickers back in the ’90s.
According to the documentary, Colombian cartels have figured out a way to build multiple submarines in the middle of the jungle (which is patrolled by guerrillas and paid-off military personnel), some which carry up to 12 tons of cargo in one trip. At U.S. street market value, one 3500 mile trip up to the gulf of Mexico can pay off up to $175 million dollars, if everything goes as planned. Upon arriving to their destination, the $1-2 million dollar submarine (that’s how much it costs to make), is sunk to the bottom of the ocean and disappear forever, undetected by anyone but the drug traffickers. At most, a submarine might do two trips in its lifetime, but nothing more because more are being built in the process, to serve their purpose. Over time the submarines have been modified to work more efficiently so they’re harder to detect but carry more cargo.
And the technology is already moving into another direction. To automatic buoys they can control from a desk, to stay one step ahead from authorities.
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