On Tuesday, Italian police announced the seizure of a remote-controlled submarine that is believed to have been used to transport narcotics as part of an international drug trafficking network. This discovery represents a much smaller version of the “narco subs” that are frequently observed in international waters.
Investigators discovered the unusual discovery while conducting inquiries into individuals who were suspected of cultivating marijuana while operating car wash stations. The perpetrators were situated in Turin, a city in northern Italy.
The Carabinieri police stated that the traffickers had likely designed and tested a small remote-controlled submarine to transport the narcotics, among other things.
A video was published, which depicted the submarine, which is only a few meters in length, operating on the surface of a body of water. The video was captured during surveillance operations.
The network, which, according to the same source, operated between Ecuador, Belgium, France, Spain, and Italy, was presided over by two siblings of Albanian descent.
The police are purported to have confiscated a combined total of 204 kilograms (450 pounds) of cocaine and hashish during the investigation.
According to the authorities, hashish was conveyed from Spain and France using automobiles that had been retrofitted with “homemade double floors.” The most probable route for cocaine to infiltrate Italy from South America was through Holland.
International drug traffickers frequently employ much larger semi-submersibles that are incapable of being entirely submerged, as they are capable of evading detection by law enforcement. Occasionally, the so-called “narco-subs” are apprehended in Colombian waters while en route to the United States, Central America, and Europe.
In 2023, the Colombian Navy intercepted at least twenty semi-submersibles, ultimately seizing thirty tons of cocaine and over five tons of hashish.
