A HUGE narco submarine has sunk in the Atlantic Ocean after British police helped intercept a record-breaking amount of cocaine on board.
Officials found nearly nine tonnes of narcotics when they caught the illegal vessel which was bound for European shores.
The semi-submersible started to sink to the bottom of the North Atlantic as Portuguese officials in control of the major high seas bust attempted to board it.
Out of the 300 cocaine packages being shipped, around 35 bales disappeared into the water as part of the sub broke away.
It still remains “the biggest seizure of cocaine ever in Portugal,” according to a police spokeswoman.
An estimated market value places the seizure at worth around £520million.
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The seizure of the sub took place 265 miles off the the Azores archipelago and was led by the Portuguese who were assisted by authorities in the UK and US.
The vessel was described by the navy as “of fragile construction” after it spent over 86 hours at sea.
Three Colombians and a Venezuelan native were on board the boat which came from Latin America when officers hunted them down.
Daring footage shows the officials crashing through choppy waters as they caught the smugglers red handed.
Once on board the vessel, huge bales of wrapped up cocaine were found hidden across the sub.
Investigations into the sub and where it came from are ongoing.
It comes just months after another narco submarine carrying more than 1.7 tonnes of cocaine was swiftly intercepted in the Atlantic.
The huge underwater vessel was believed to be on a drug trafficking mission to flood the UK and Europe with the dangerous Class A substance.
Daring footage shows the moment the Portuguese Judicial Police (PJ) and Navy hunt down the drugs vessel destined for the Iberian Peninsula.
Two police boats speed after the sub crashing through the waves in the Atlantic.
They quickly surround the floating vessel as officers commandeer it and step on board.
The semi-submersible had four crew members inside, along with the haul of drugs, Portuguese authorities detailed.
I went inside deathtrap ‘narco sub’ used to smuggle cocaine
By Oliver Harvey, Chief Feature Writer
CLAMBERING down into the claustrophobic gloom of the first transatlantic narco-submarine in Europe, it feels like I’ve entered a floating coffin.
Built by drug lords in the Amazon jungle, its fibreglass body echoes to my knock while its control panel has a few rudimentary dials and a key rusting in the ignition.
Sitting at the helm of the 65ft craft — with soot from its diesel engine caking my hands — it is clear there is only enough room for one member of crew to sit upright comfortably.
Indeed, there was no space onboard for even a toilet.
Instead, men relieved themselves out of the sub’s hatch above their heads, when surfaced, or resorted to using plastic bags.
Read more here.
