Drug-smuggling submarine seized
The US Drug Enforcement Administration says it has helped Ecuador seize a submarine capable of transporting tones of cocaine.
DEA officials said that the diesel electric-powered submarine was built in a remote jungle and captured near a river close to the Ecuador-Colombia border. Ecuadorian authorities seized the sub before it could make its maiden voyage.
The sophisticated camouflaged vessel has a conning tower, periscope and air-conditioning system. It measured about nine feet (three metres) high from the deck plates to the ceiling and stretched nearly a 100 feet long. The DEA says it was built for trans-oceanic drug trafficking.
One person has been taken into custody. DEA Andean Regional Director Jay Bergman says the sub's nautical and payload capacity is a serious development in the drug trade.