Homemade Submarine w/3 tons of coke

[Truck4 48]

http://cbs5.com/topstories/topstories_story_324124455.html

(AP) SAN JOSE, Costa Rica Tipped off by three plastic pipes mysteriously skimming the ocean's surface, authorities seized a homemade submarine packed with 3 tons of cocaine off Costa Rica's Pacific coast.

Four men traveled inside the 50-foot wood and fiberglass craft, breathing through the pipes. The craft sailed along at about 7 mph, just six feet beneath the surface, Security Minister Fernando Berrocal said Sunday.

The submarine was spotted Friday 103 miles off the coast near Cabo Blanco National Park on the Nicoya peninsula.

"This is the first time in the country's history that a craft with these characteristics has been caught near the national coasts," Berrocal said in a statement.

U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents, FBI and Colombian officials aided Costa Rican authorities in the operation, Berrocal said.

Two Colombians, a Guatemalan and a Sri Lankan were arrested and taken to the United States, since they were captured in international waters, Berrocal said.

Officials took the submarine to a Costa Rican Coast Guard station and were trying to determine its origins, the Security Ministry said. It was found with several tanks of gas, but Costa Rican authorities said the vessel, which had a bailer to keep out water, probably did not travel far.

[JBE 328]

And the Coasties were told in the 90's they no longer needed sonar technicians...

I have to say, when I was in the CG, I saw quite a few pictures and read quite a few stories on how inventive smugglers can get. This is pretty impressive.

[JM15 386]

Props to those guys. Not for smuggling coke but for the submarine