Authorities from dozens of countries have seized 225 tons of cocaine in a six-week mega operation that uncovered a new Pacific trade route from South America to Australia, the Colombian navy said Wednesday. Officials said they had also seized “increasingly sophisticated” drug-laden semi-submersibles – known as “narco subs” – which can travel 10,000 miles without refueling.
The final phase of the global naval operation ‘Orion’ resulted in the seizure of more than 1,400 tons of drugs, including 225 tons of cocaine and 128 tons of marijuana, navy official Orlando Enrique Grisales told reporters.
In October and November, more than 400 people were arrested during the operation against oceans, coasts, rivers and ports around the world.
The massive failure involved the security services of the United States, Brazil, Spain, the Netherlands and several other countries, as well as multiple international organizations.
According to a Navy statement, the seizure deprived the drug cartels of more than $8.4 billion.
Grisales said officials also seized a wood and fiberglass semi-submersible ship bound for Australia carrying five tons of Colombian cocaine.
This was the third such ship discovered in the area, revealing a “new trade route” with advanced boats capable of covering distances of some 10,000 miles without refueling.
A kilo of cocaine sells for $240,000 in Australia, Grisales said – about six times more than the price in the United States.
“It is a route that is becoming increasingly profitable as prices in Australia are much higher,” a security source told AFP.
“Initially, these boats were mainly used to bring the drugs out of the country and off the coast of Colombia and then onto ships,” the source said.
“It has turned out that these semi-submersibles, sometimes even submersibles, are now becoming more and more advanced, with very sophisticated technology.”
Semi-submersibles, which cannot submerge completely, are popular among international drug traffickers because they can sometimes escape detection by law enforcement. The ships are sometimes seized in Colombian waters while en route to the United States, Central America and Europe. In June, Colombia’s navy said it had seized two “narco-submarines” off the country’s Pacific coast that together contained nearly five tons of cocaine.
Colombian Navy
In February, Colombian authorities began searching for two missing fishermen found a “narco-sub” loaded with more than 4 tons of cocaine. A few weeks earlier the Colombian Navy intercepted a semi-submersible loaded with more than 1,000 pounds of cocaine in the Pacific Ocean.
The latest ‘Orion’ operation also revealed previously unknown alliances between cartels from Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru with groups from Europe and Oceania.
“It’s not just a pyramid structure like the cartels once were. Today they are organized crime networks that are connected,” Grisales said.
Colombia is the world’s largest producer and exporter of cocaine, mainly to the United States and Europe.
Last year, the South American country set a new record for cocaine production and the cultivation of the coca leaf from which it is made.
