Marina in Mexico seizes submarine with more than 3.5 tons of cocaine
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With helicopters and interceptor patrols, Marina achieves the most important seizure so far this year, barely a week after UN reports classified the neighboring country as the main gateway for cocaine to the US.
The Secretary of the Navy in Mexico announced the seizure of more than 3.5 tons of cocaine aboard a submarine; as well as the arrest of five suspects of different nationalities.
As if it were a scene from an action movie, from its location it was monitored with aircraft from this agency, so Navy ocean-going ships equipped with helicopters and interceptor patrols, finding a load of approximately 186 packages of suspected cocaine.
The success of the mission was achieved thanks to the training of the naval personnel, since the elements boarded the illicit vessel in motion, under conditions of strong winds and waves on the high seas.
The seized material and the detained people were concentrated in La Paz, Baja California Sur to be made available to the competent authorities, for the integration of the folder of corresponding investigation.
It is a 26-meter-long vessel, with two internal engines, an average speed of eight knots and an autonomy of 20 days, highlighting that it is the first of its kind to be secured in 2023 and the largest and most capable of cargo that has been insured in Mexico during the government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
So far in 2023, the Secretary of the Navy has recorded the seizure of 21,295 kilograms of cocaine seized at sea and 121 people detained on the high seas carrying out illicit activities.
According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), in its World Drug Report 2023, “Mexico is a transit country that functions as a gateway to for the cocaine to reach the United States”, where the majority of users in North America, including Canada, are located.