(Madrid) Spotted by Spanish customs agents, a group of four drug traffickers who were on board a sort of submarine opened the boat’s valves in order to flood it and sink its cargo to the bottom of the Wed, police said Tuesday.
The four occupants, all Colombians, were rescued on Sunday by customs officers just after voluntarily sinking their boat, 280 nautical miles (around 500 km) from the southern Spanish coast, indicates a joint press release from Spanish customs and police.
Customs agents patrolling the sea had spotted this 20-meter semi-submersible, nicknamed a “narco-submarine”, a type of boat increasingly used by traffickers who are doubling their creativity to find new ways of transport the drugs discreetly.
When the customs boat approached the vessel, the crew “opened the valves on the bottom of the submarine, before returning to the surface of the craft to safety.”
“The semi-submersible was flooded in a few minutes, before sinking with its cargo to the bottom of the sea. The four Colombian crew members were rescued and then arrested,” details the press release.
Spain is one of the main entry points for drugs into Europe, due to its close ties with Latin America and its proximity to Morocco.