Ecuador authorities seize drug-smuggling sub

[marshmat]

Daiquiri, I think that's essentially how the drug runners treat it now. Smuggling vessels are relatively small and disposable (when a $200K boat can carry cocaine worth $2M on the street, buying a new boat every couple of trips is no big deal). Yes, they are crewed, but the owners don't particularly care what happens to the crew. Computer control is far more expensive than slipping a few bills to a down-on-his-luck fisherman and saying "just get this to Florida, our guy will meet you there, don't ask questions".

[Guillermo]

We have had our "own" drugs smuggling submarine in Vigo too. It didn't work properly and was abandoned by the smugglers. I was asked to perform an assesment of it for the police, but finally they did not confirm and I did nothing.

Here the news (2006): http://www.absurddiari.com/s/llegir....egir&ref=10494

[daiquiri]

Originally Posted by marshmat

Computer control is far more expensive than slipping a few bills to a down-on-his-luck fisherman and saying "just get this to Florida, our guy will meet you there, don't ask questions".

Marsh, see these two videos from the other thread on narco-subs:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAfqvz3Yl78
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjPTfbeYPV8

It seems that they are allready working on unmanned subs. I've learned about these videos only today through the other thread, but it did appear like a logical next step, if you think of it... No crews which would steal the storage space for drugs, no air-conditioning systems or periscopes, no worries that a crew member might tell something to the police, etc.
They clearly have some very clever technical people with them, and can live with higher costs. To them it's like just a handful of coins, nothing more...

[daiquiri]

Oh, and by the way...
I will now stop giving off other ideas on the forum about the issue of subs which could be used for the purpose of drug smuggling.
Don't want to take a risk of giving even an unintentional contribution to their cause.