Drug runners increasing use of mini subs

It's like a Bond film. [Link]

Latin American drug smugglers are stepping up their use of small, hand-made mini-subs in order to dodge U.S. military patrols in the eastern Pacific. The Coast Guard detected just 23 mini-subs between 2001 and 2007. This number "ballooned" to some 60 subs so far this year, according to Coastie Commander Cameron Naron. He estimates that two or three subs make the trip from Colombia to the U.S. every week, each carrying as much as 10 tons of drugs.

"Once perceived as impractical and risky smuggling tools," mini-subs are becoming increasingly sophisticated, Naron says, with combined steel-and-fiberglass hulls and radio suites rivaling commercial vessels. The Coast Guard believes the vessels are manufactured in rebel-controlled Colombian jungles, but where the designs come from, Naron can't say. "If you had that information, we'd be very interested," he told participants of a Pentagon-sponsored teleconference this morning.