Suspected smugglers aboard submersible in ocean before sinking submersible off Spain

Spain’s customs agency has intercepted a suspected drugs ‘narco-submarine’ in the Atlantic, arresting four suspects who deliberately sank their submersible as authorities closed in.

According to investigators the vessel, located on 24 June, was similar to other 20-metre trans-oceanic semisubmersible boats previously intercepted in Spain. Authorities suspect, from the design and size of the semisub, that the boat was carrying a shipment of cocaine from South America. All four suspects are Columbian nationals (Columbian narco-subs are now commonplace, according to a 2020 investigation).

The Spanish Tax Agency’s Customs Surveillance Service, working in partnership with the U.S. DEA, located the semisub about 250 nautical miles off the coast of Cadiz, in the Andalucia region of southwestern Spain. The customs agency vessel Fulmar, working with Spain’s Civil Guard and National Police, moved in to intercept the vessel.

Rather than surrender, the semisub’s crew opted to scuttle their own boat. They opened the seacocks, causing it to flood rapidly. They climbed onto the deck, and as Fulmar approached, the semisubmersible sank and descended to the ocean floor.

The Atlantic sea around southern Spain is a popular destination for ship-to-ship smuggling. On 22 June, Spanish police aboard Fulmar seized 900kg of cocaine 200 miles from the Canary Islands, following a six-hour chase. The crew aboard the RIB threw their cargo overboard near the island of La Palma, and the boat was found abandoned on a beach the following day.

And, in 2023, police in Spain arrested two smugglers who jumped from the stern of a boxship into the Mediterranea Sea, along with bales of cocaine. The police recovered 100kgs of cocaine during the sting, which took place aboard the 79,300 dwt containership Olivia I.

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