See Datelline’s last episode within the Narco submarines in Spain on April 1 at 9.30 pm in SBS or SBS on request.
Once it was thought that using submarines to smuggle drugs through the Atlantic was a myth.
But in 2019, when Spanish authorities With 3,000 kg of cocaine, it marked a turning point, confirming that a submarine drug trafficking route from South America to Europe was real.
The first known ‘Narco-Sub’ seized in Europe is now shown in the Police Academy of Spain.
A semi-summensible 22 meters long that was captured on the Spanish coast in 2019 with three tons of cocaine is now exhibited at the Spain Academy of Police near Madrid. Fountain: Channel 4
The 22-meter semi-submersed was piloted by Agustin Alvarez, a former Spanish amateur boxing champion. Two other crew members were their cousins in Ecuador. The three men were sentenced to 11 years in prison in 2022.
Years later, the smell of cigarette smoke and human feces still remain inside. The trip from Brazil to the coast of Galicia took 28 days. The crew would take 8 -hour shifts to direct the ship. Load, It is worth € 90 million ($ 146 million) at that time, It was stored in the front.
The ‘Sub’, most sat down just under water, which makes it very difficult to detect, was designed for its unique use in this illegal mission. The plan was that once the drugs arrived and were discharged in fishing boats, the crew would open special valves to sink the container.
Pursue the sea
Spain is now one of the main cocaine entry doors in Europe. And the port of Galicia is its main point of entry. In 2023, the authorities intercepted 90 tons of cocaine, twice the previous year.
While more than two thirds were found in shipping containers, drug traffickers are finding more inventive ways. These days, Galicia Customs officers have to work even harder at sea, where they face the elusive drug traffickers in the ocean that travels thousands of kilometers from South America.
“Our great day -to -day obsession is to know everything that is in our waters,” said Customs Chief of Galicia, Fernando Iglesias.
The chief of the Customs of Galicia, Fernando Iglesias, says that his team has to deal with increasingly inventive drug smuggling operations. Fountain: Channel 4
But even with rapid helicopters and boats, the churches team is not equipped for long persecutions.
“Our ships are not designed for long distances. They are made to protect estuaries and tickets to them,” he said.
Narcos are now frequently and globally. A known route is from Colombia to the Pacific. In November 2024, Colombian authorities As part of an international operation called Orion, which involves 62 countries.
The drug smuggler
Although the Spanish authorities began to detect and confiscate narco-subs recently, the local drug smuggler Luis (not his real name) says that they have arrived in Galicia since 1998. He states that every month one arrives in Galicia. If you are right, That would mean that more than € 1 billion ($ 1.7 billion) in cocaine enter the European market a year, only from narco-subs.
“Only around 5 percent stays [in Spain]”He said.” The rest goes where there is demand. Throughout Europe. “
A local drug trafficker says that the semi-summeables loaded with drugs have arrived in Galicia since the end of the 1990s. Fountain: Channel 4
In his 50 years, Luis has been in the cocaine smuggling business with Mexican and Colombian drug cartels for a decade. It operates the fast boats, but now it also invests in narco-subs and takes a great cut of the profits.
“Sooner or later you will catch you. That’s safe. It is almost impossible to work without police help.”
The Spanish police did not respond to their accusations of corruption.
Mortal consequences
Manuel Couceiro, priest and president of a local defense and non -profit defense group, the Galician Foundation against drug trafficking, He says that he has witnessed the tight grip of South American drug posters in Spanish society and the increase in violence for which they are known by the posters.
“All bad and negative things extend sooner or later. There have already been cases of settlement scores and disappearances,” he said.
Spain not only has one of the highest cocaine consumption rates in the world, but also has one of the highest youth unemployment rates in the European Union. The lack of job opportunities adds to the attractiveness of drug trafficking.
The Galician man Santiago de Dios shows a photo of his son Ismael, who disappeared while transporting drugs from Colombia to Spain. Fountain: Channel 4
For two years, the local man Santiago de Dios has been trying to find out what happened to his son Ismael, who disappeared while sailing a boat with four tons of cocaine from Colombia to Galicia.
“There are several hypotheses,” he said.
“One is that, since he was the last to join the gang, perhaps as the youngest, wanted him to pay him like everyone else, and threw him for revenge.”
“Or there was an accident during the dangerous crossing of the Atlantic.”
