A HUGE drug submarine has sunk in the Atlantic Ocean after British police helped seize a record amount of cocaine on board.
Officials found almost nine tonnes of narcotics when they intercepted an illegal vessel heading for European shores.
The semi-submersible began sinking to the bottom of the North Atlantic when Portuguese officials who were inspecting the main wreck on the high seas attempted to board it.
Of the 300 packages of cocaine sent, about 35 packages disappeared in the water because part of the submarine broke away.
According to a police spokesman, it still remains “the biggest seizure of cocaine in Portugal”.
The estimated market value of the seizure is approximately £520 million.
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The seizure of the submarine took place 265 miles off the Azores archipelago and was led by the Portuguese, assisted by UK and US authorities.
The Navy described the vessel as “structurally fragile” after spending more than 86 hours at sea.
Three Colombians and one Venezuelan were on board the ship, which arrived from Latin America, when officers they hunted down.
Bold footage shows officials racing through choppy waters as they nab the smugglers red-handed.
Once aboard the ship, huge packages of wrapped cocaine were found hidden across the submarine.
The investigation into the submarine and its origin is still ongoing.
It comes just months after another drug submarine was quickly intercepted in the Atlantic with more than 1.7 tons of cocaine.
A giant underwater ship was believed to be on a drug-trafficking mission to flood the UK and Europe with the dangerous Class A substance.
Bold footage shows the moment Portugal’s Judicial Police (PJ) and navy hunt down a drug vessel bound for the Iberian Peninsula.
Two police boats rush in after a submarine crashes through waves in the Atlantic.
He quickly surrounds the floating vessel as the officers command him and steps aboard.
According to Portuguese authorities, the semi-submersible had four crew members inside along with drugs.
I walked into a ‘narco sub’ death trap used to smuggle cocaine
Oliver Harvey, head writer
CLIMBING into the claustrophobic gloom of Europe’s first transatlantic narco-submarine, I feel as if I’ve stepped into a floating coffin.
Built by drug lords in the Amazon jungle, its fiberglass body echoes to my knocks, while its control panel has a few basic dials and a key rusting in the ignition.
Sitting behind the helm of the 65-foot-long vessel—soot from its diesel engine sticking to my hands—it’s clear that there’s only enough room for one crew member to sit comfortably.
In fact, there wasn’t even room on board for a toilet.
Instead, when the men surfaced, they emerged from the submarine’s hatch overhead, or resorted to using plastic bags.
Read more here.
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