Cocaine would have rendered drug ring over €300 million
Portuguese authorities are celebrating a major coup: the seizure of their first ‘narco sub’ (a boat made especially to cross the Atlantic from South America, loaded with cocaine destined for various parts of Europe).
PJ chief Luís Neves has called the haul “a bitter blow for the criminal organisation” behind the trafficking ring – very possibly Brazil’s Primeiro Comando Capital (PCC) which has already had a number of operations identified in this country. The seven tonnes of cocaine discovered inside the ‘submarine’ would have brought in around €300 million.
This was the first ‘narco sub’ successfully thwarted on a journey to Portugal.
Authorities have been aware of these boats, that are in fact not submarines at all but specially-made low sailing craft, painted the colour of the sea and jutting above the surface by less than a metre, for some time. They are exceptionally difficult for radar/ satellite, even overhead aircraft, to detect, but this operation benefitted from intelligence, supplied by drug enforcement agencies of the US, UK and Spain, and is thus hugely significant.
As Luís Neves stressed, “cocaine is behind many serious crimes”, including multiple murders.
Reports explain that this particular boat snuck out of the Amazon delta in Brazil, carrying three Brazlians, a Spaniard and a Colombian. Aside from the bales of cocaine, the boat was packed with jerry cans of fuel, food, water, and mineral salts (which apparently kept the men going through the ravages of Depression Martinho).
The destination was coastal Portugal, at which point various ‘narco launches’ (super-fast speed boats, again specially designed for drug traffickers) were due to pick up the cocaine while still at sea, and race it to various destinations. It is unclear from information so far whether the narco launch was due to return to Brazil, or whether it would have eventually been ‘dumped’.
What appears to have happened is that authorities searching for it, detected it last week, roughly 500 kms south of the Azores.
“A special team of marines acted quickly, giving the traffickers no chance to sink the boat, as usually happens”, writes Correio da Manhã. “The drugs, submarine and detainees were all towed to Ponta Delgada, where they arrived yesterday. The five men will now be taken by the Air Force to Lisbon, to face a judge.
