Drug Subs Pose New Challenge for Navy and Coast Guard
DRUG BUST: The crew of a semi-submersible drug-trafficking vessel prepares to abandon ship before being intercepted by the U.S. Coast Guard northwest of the Colombian-Ecuador border this past January. A dozen suspected drug smugglers were apprehended (U.S. Navy photo)
The first time they found one, US military authorities dubbed it “Big Foot.” They had heard rumours that such things existed, but nobody had actually seen one. It was late 2006, and Big Foot was not lurking in a forest, but at sea, 145 kms southwest of Costa Rica. And it was not an ape-like creature, but a hulking, blue vessel resembling a submarine and carrying several tons of cocaine.
Nor was it a solitary beast. Authorities say they are detecting more and more vessels like Big Foot — known as self-propelled semi-submersibles (SPSS)– carrying larger and larger loads of drugs.
Chugging around the southern curve of Central America and up towards the United States, they have formed a kind of illicit fleet and become a major drug trafficking tool. In recent years, SPSS vessels have become more advanced in range and capacity and are increasingly being used to smuggle large quantities of cocaine from South and Central America to North America. U.S. officials estimate that SPSS vessels are used in 32 percent of all narcotics shipments in the Western Hemisphere Transit Zone, which includes the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific.
Colombian Navy chief Admiral Guillermo Barrera told a counterterrorism conference in Bogota last week that 23 semi-submersibles capable of carrying between 4 and 10 metric tonnes of drugs each have been seized in the past three years. In addition, the U.S. has nabbed 11 such semi-submersibles in 2008 in the Pacific. However, military officials estimate that another 60 semi-submersibles successfully delivered their cargo (presumably to North America or to another ship for transit to the U.S. or Canada).
Drug cartels started looking for alternative ways to transport their cargo several years ago, when drug enforcement officials cracked down on trafficking by fishing vessels. One answer was the “go fast,” a powerful speed boat that blasts across the water so fast that authorities have to use helicopters to give chase. Another was the self-propelled semi-submersible.
Unlike speedboats though, semi-subs have a low profile. They travel just beneath the ocean’s surface, making them difficult to find on radar screens. They also use lead shielding to minimize its “heat signature” and throw off infrared sensors. More recently, traffickers have started outfitting semi-subs with a scuttle valve so crews can quickly sink the vessels if authorities get close enough to board and collect evidence.
On January 15, 2009 a Canadian Forces Aurora long-range patrol aircraft helped the U.S. Coast Guard identify and track a self-propelled semi-submersible vessel in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of South America. The vessel was carrying seven metric tonnes (about 7,000 kilograms) of cocaine worth $242 million.
The mission was part of Operation Caribbe, the Canadian Forcers’ codename for its participation in an international partnership that aims to reduce drug trafficking and other illegal activities in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific. In the partnership, Canada works with the U.S., U.K., France, Spain, and the Netherlands under the U.S.-led Joint Interagency Task Force South (JIATF-S), an organization led by the U.S. Southern Command within the U.S. Department of Defense.
Operation Caribbe was led by Canada Command, a Canadian Forces organization responsible for routine and contingency operations in Canada and North America.
Vice Admiral Dean McFadden, head of Canada Command, said in a recent interview that the skills the military developed to track submarines came into play in hunting down the what layman often refer to as a “drug sub.” The engines require air to function and for that drug smugglers have installed pipes sticking out of the semi-submersible, McFadden said. Those pipes, he noted, are similar to periscopes, something navy crews involved in anti-submarine warfare are trained to detect.
With their hull rising only about half a metre (18 inches) above the waterline, these low-profile vessels are hard to see from a distance, leave little wake, and are difficult to detect with radar.
While operating in the Caribbean in January, HMCS Montréal became the first naval ship to conduct trials with SPSS vessels. The trials were a first step toward developing tactics and procedures that will help in the detection and tracking of SPSS vessels.
SPSS vessels range from 12 to 30 metres (40 to 100 feet) in length, can carry several crew members and over ten metric tonnes of cocaine. Some can cover up to 4,000 kms during a non-stop two week voyage. A growing concern is that these vessels can potentially be used by criminal organizations and even terrorists to carry other kinds of illicit cargo.
“What worries me [about the SPSS] is if you can move that much cocaine, what else can you put in that semi-submersible? Can you put a weapon of mass destruction in it?” said Navy Admiral Jim Stavridis, Commander of the U.S. Southern Command.
While cocaine is the largest type of trafficking that JIATF-S deals with, the organization is also responsible for coordinating efforts to stem other illicit activities such as piracy, the smuggling of humans, money, and weapons, and terrorism.
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