The U.S. Coast Guard announced Tuesday that it had seized a 40-foot submarine in the Pacific Ocean that was carrying 12,000 pounds of cocaine, which is worth more than $165 million dollars on the street. The discovery happened earlier this month (Sept. 5) when coast guards stopped the vessel in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, ultimately arresting four suspected drug smugglers in the process.
“The detection of a semi-submersible submarine is very difficult especially at night, that's when this one was spotted by an aircraft that was flying in a routine patrol in the area,” Coast Guard Lt. Commander Matthew Kroll told ABC News. “They vectored in the Coast Guard Cutter Valiant and in the early morning hours, the cutter launched one or two small boats to interdict the submarine.”
He continued, “The majority of the vessels that we interdict are coming out of South America, and they're trying to get their way to either southern Mexico or central Central America, via the eastern Pacific maritime routes. So that's where the majority of our assets, along with the assets of multiple Nations and other agencies, the United States that are working together to stop those transit zones.”
Check out the tweet and intense raid (below).