Narco sub stopped with 7 tons of cocaine
The narco sub intercepted by the Coast Guard Cutter Mohawk is similar to this one, searched by the U.S. Coast Guard in 2009.
October 28th, 2011
10:02 PM ET

Narco sub stopped with 7 tons of cocaine

The United States Coast Guard said it recovered seven tons of cocaine from a narco sub, a self-propelled semi-submersible vessel that is used to transport illegal drugs. The drugs were brought to shore Monday in St. Petersburg, Florida, and will be handed over to the United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida where the case is being handled.

This is the third semi-submersible to be stopped by the Coast Guard in the Caribbean Sea and the second interdiction by the crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Mohawk.

Narco subs may become trend in Caribbean

“We’ve got two within about two weeks of each other,” said Coast Guard Cmdr. Mark J. Fedor, the Mohawk's commanding officer. “It really makes you wonder how many of these things might be coming through.”

This recent semi-submersible that didn’t make it past law enforcement was stopped by the Mohawk on September 30.

“It was spotted by a maritime patrol aircraft,” Fedor said. “We were a long way away from it.  We had to run at full sped for about 12 to 15 hours until we were in a spot to make the interdiction.”

It was dark when the Mohawk arrived at the vessel, which was off the coast Honduras, said Fedor. A small boat that the Mohawk launched fired warning shots across the bow of the narco sub when it refused to stop.

“Once we did that they stopped,”said Fedor, “and right after they stopped they scuttled the vessel.”

During the other interdictions, July 13 and September 17, the narco subs were also sunk by the crew.

“The thing sank beneath them just as the other one did, the only down side was no bales floated to the top,” said Fedor, “but what we did know was that boat sank in only 80 feet of water.”

Fedor requested that divers be brought to the scene to try and bring the drugs to the surface. A few weeks after the initial stop the Coast Guard said the FBI’s technical dive team found the semi-submersible and recovered the cocaine cargo. The cargo is now evidence against the vessel’s four crew members.

FBI's terrorism search goes undersea

The U.S. Attorney’s office said in a press release, the crew, Jorge Colomer, 47, of Honduras; Guilforth Romero, 24, of Honduras; Manuel Cuero, 30, of Colombia; and Marcos Salazar, 30, of Colombia, have been indicted by a federal grand jury, accused of violating the Drug Trafficking Vessel Interdiction Act of 2008.  If convicted they each face a maximum sentence of 15 years in federal prison.

 Post by:
Filed under: Crime • Drugs • Florida • U.S. Coast Guard
soundoff (85 Responses)
  1. Antonio Velasquez Jr.

    what ever happened to the good old days, when everybody got rich importing mozerella cheese and olives ?

    October 30, 2011 at 10:40 pm | Report abuse |
  2. Antonio Velasquez Jr.

    HOLY HELL !just who can it possibly be that can afford to use all that cocain ;and why? It has to be a satanic secret society.

    October 30, 2011 at 10:46 pm | Report abuse |
    • themoops

      The Moops..that's who

      November 11, 2011 at 6:55 pm | Report abuse |
  3. numberscrunch

    that's over 2 billion dollars in street value

    October 31, 2011 at 10:11 pm | Report abuse |
    • Correction

      7 tons = 14,000 pounds
      1 pound = $10,000
      14,000 pounds x $10,000 =$140,000,000

      Street value $140,000,000

      November 25, 2011 at 12:11 pm | Report abuse |
  4. lance

    good work guys ! coke is bad for your health.

    November 1, 2011 at 2:55 pm | Report abuse |
  5. michael

    wouldn't it have made more sense to just blow the hll out of the sub? no need to indict body parts

    November 2, 2011 at 10:35 am | Report abuse |
  6. PLEASEDIE

    They don't know how many of those things their are???? lolz... Good luck winning that war. Their is always another way afterall. And paying for these guys for fifteen years is a waste of money. Just send them back for the next load so you can get another big bust to impress all of us who really don't give a rats A$$. Oh yeah thats right . Theyll be out in two and on a better sub with 14 tons in 3. Derp...

    November 2, 2011 at 4:25 pm | Report abuse |
  7. Bobby

    How much money are the foreign governments making off of these operations to look the other way?

    November 15, 2011 at 1:01 pm | Report abuse |
  8. Elmer

    I vote for blowing these vessels out of the water as soon as they are discovered. It's a pretty effective deterrent and much cheaper than incarceration.

    November 24, 2011 at 1:07 pm | Report abuse |
    • patrick a.

      Deterrent,lol countries like China and Malaysia actually sentenced their Traffickers to death all the time,guess what they still have Drug traffickers.

      November 24, 2011 at 2:28 pm | Report abuse |
  9. The Cube

    Gotta keep the mexicants busy with something other than mowing lawns.

    November 27, 2011 at 1:05 pm | Report abuse |
  10. остров Окинава

    Хорощий сайт! Пишите мне кто нибудь.

    April 3, 2012 at 3:37 pm | Report abuse |
1 2 3 4 5
« Back to main