Lisbon, Portugal:
Officers seized almost 6.5 tons of cocaine from a semi-submarine who intercepted the Azores of the Azores while he was on his way to the Iberian Peninsula, said the judicial police of Portugal on Tuesday.
The bust amounts to almost a quarter of the record of 23 tons taken in 2024 in Portugal, often considered one of the first access points for the medicine in Europe.
Drug traders are caught using semi-under-watered ships, sometimes called “Narco-submmmarines”, to smuggle cocaine while trying to avoid the detection.
The ship was intercepted “in the middle of the Atlantic, about 500 nautical miles (more than 900 kilometers)” south of the Azores archipelago of Portugal, according to the judicial police.
Five crew members were on board the ship, which was used by an international crime ring, added the statement.
In addition to the Portuguese Navy and Air Force, international partners, including the US Drug Enforcement Agency, the British National Crime Agency and the Spanish Guardia Civil have contributed to the bust.
Many so-called “narco-submmmatives” cannot completely dive like a real submarine, but some can dive completely under water.
The majority of the cocaine smuggled in Portugal comes over the sea from Latin -America.
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