Drug Smuggling Sub found in Mountains of Columbia w/US Russian Plans

http://www.charlotte.com/observer/natwor/docs/drugsub0908.htm

Published Friday, September 8, 2000
Coke-smuggling sub discovered -- U.S., Russia linked to half-built boat
By RUTH MORRIS -- Los Angeles Times

BOGOTA, Colombia -- They have smuggled cocaine in high-speed boats, low-flying planes and even in the centers of lollipops. But on Thursday, Colombia's audacious drug traffickers astounded even the country's seasoned police. A 100-foot submarine was discovered in a mountain workshop just 18 miles west of Bogota, Colombia's capital, police announced.

Aided by intelligence from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, stunned Colombian police found Russian-language manuals along with the partly constructed submarine. If completed, the vessel could have transported 200 kilos of cocaine, Colombian naval officials said. "Never in my life, in 32 years working with the police, have I seen anything like this," said Leo Arreguin, DEA director for Colombia, speaking to reporters at the improvised dry dock.

The submarine is an ambitious leap for the traffickers from fast boats and radar-dodging planes to the sort of technological tool that only a sovereign naval force usually commands. Its appearance strengthens the position of anti-narcotics warriors, such as U.S. drug czar Gen. Barry McCaffrey, who supported a recently approved $1.3-billion aid package with the argument that Colombia desperately needs help to stand up to well-connected drug rings with virtually unlimited budgets. "It was shocking to me to see how much technology illicit money can buy," said Capt. Ismael Idrobo, projects director for the Colombian Naval Academy.

The workshop's location high in the Andean Mountains led police to deduce that the traffickers planned to transport the vessel to the coast piece by piece in containers. The Russian instruction manuals with Spanish translations that police found in the warehouse suggested that Russians may have been helping to build the sub, officials said, and also seemed to implicate two Americans. Asked about involvement of Americans, Arreguin said, "We're going to continue with intelligence efforts to find out who they are." There was no one at the site when police raided it, and no arrests were made. Arreguin would not elaborate further on why Americans were suspected of involvement.

Still, such loose ends were overshadowed by the discovery of the submarine itself. Customs authorities have found cocaine and heroin sewn into wigs, inserted under animals' skin, hidden in breast implants and taped inside musical instruments. Earlier this year, authorities came across several hundred tropical-flavored lollipops with cocaine centers. Even by Colombian standards, though, the submarine was in a league of its own.

Police chief Ernesto Gilibert emphasized the sophisticated workmanship on display at the submarine construction site. Police had to overcome a televised security surveillance system when they raided it late Wednesday. Once inside, they found a watertight hatchway, already completed, along with the submarine's casing, stabilizers and a propeller.

Colombia has two coastlines, one on the Pacific Ocean and one on the Caribbean, making it an ideal shipping point for some of the world's most powerful drug trafficking cartels. According to U.S. officials in Washington, traffickers transported more than 260 tons of Colombian cocaine to consumer countries last year, and production is thought to be rising rapidly. colombian cartels get innovative "Never in my life, in 32 years working with the police, have I seen anything like this."

------------------
Stay Cool...