A narcotics smuggler is perched atop a mini-submarine carrying cocaine during an interception by US authorities in 2007
MIAMI (AFP) — The first time they found one, authorities dubbed it "Big Foot." They had heard rumors that such things existed, but nobody had actually seen one.
It was late 2006, and Big Foot was not lurking in a forest, but at sea, 90 miles (145 kilometers) southwest of Costa Rica. And it was not an ape-like creature, but a hulking, blue vessel resembling a submarine and carrying several tons of cocaine.
Nor was it a solitary beast.
Authorities say they are detecting more and more seacraft like Big Foot -- known as self-propelled semi-submersibles -- carrying larger and larger loads of drugs.
Chugging around the southern curve of Central America and up towards the United States, they have formed a kind of illicit fleet and become a major drug trafficking tool.
"It's significant. We believe they can carry upwards of eight or 10 tons of cocaine," said Rear Admiral Joseph Nimmich, director of the Joint Interagency Task Force South in Key West, Florida, where military and government agencies track drug shipments.
"It's in fact a logical progression," he added. "As we get better at interdiction, they move to try to counteract our success."
Experts estimate 25 to 40 semi-subs left South America last year laden with cocaine, and they expect that figure to double in 2008.
Nimmich said cartels started looking for alternative ways to transport their cargo several years ago, when drug enforcement officials cracked down on trafficking by fishing vessels.
One answer was the "go fast," a souped-up speed boat that blasts across the water so fast that authorities have to use helicopters to give chase. Another was the semi-sub.
Unlike speedboats though, semi-subs have a low profile. They travel just beneath the ocean's surface, making them difficult to find on radar screens. Big Foot also had lead shielding to minimize its "heat signature" and throw off infrared sensors.
More recently, traffickers have started outfitting semi-subs with a scuttle valve so crews can quickly sink the vessels if authorities get close enough to board and collect evidence.
Zachary Mann, a spokesman for US Customs and Border Protection, said finding semi-subs involves a "layered" approach of high-tech monitoring and "good ole' fashion police investigative work."
In some cases, this means visually spotting them from the air, although they are painted blue and produce a wisp of a wake. Even here, the traffickers alter their methods, travelling more slowly during the day so their wake is smaller.
Hoping for a new weapon in their arsenal, the US Coast Guard is working with Congress to make it illegal even to be aboard an unflagged semi-sub in international waters, whether or not authorities find cocaine at the scene as evidence of wrongdoing. The crime would carry a 20-year prison term.
"This vessel has no purpose other than illicit trafficking," Nimmich said.
In the meantime, semi-subs have grown bigger, sturdier and faster. Some can cover up to 2,500 miles (4,000 kilometers) during a non-stop two-week voyage. They have crews of three or four men who share a tiny cylindrical capsule just four-feet high.
"This is another example of just how nimble drug traffickers are, mainly because of the profits that are available," said Adam Isacson, an expert on Colombia at the Center for International Policy in Washington.
The value of cocaine spikes once it arrives in the United States, he said, where 2007 figures put the price of a gram at 118 dollars.
Motivated by huge profit margins, drug traffickers have maintained a steady supply of cocaine to US consumers despite billions of dollars in US anti-narcotics aid to Colombia, where almost all cocaine is produced.
Other smuggling techniques involve stashing drugs in containers, or paying human "mules" to ingest them before travelling. Agents have found cocaine dissolved in diesel fuel, stashed inside fake plantains, stuffed inside lollipops, and even hidden in breast implants.
Despite difficulties interdicting semi-subs, the US Coast Guard seized a record 355,000 pounds (160,000 kilos) of cocaine in 2007, up two percent from the previous year.
The figure was boosted by the agency's largest cocaine bust ever -- a 42,845-pound (19,280-kilo) cargo -- stacked on the deck of a freighter.
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