Portuguese authorities have detained four people after intercepting a narco-submarine carrying more than 1.7 tonnes of cocaine in the mid-Atlantic Ocean.
Officials said the semi-submersible vessel, which was headed for the Iberian Peninsula, was seized in recent days during a joint police and navy operation.
Footage from the scene showed Portuguese forces surrounding and boarding the vessel before confiscating the Class A drugs and arresting the four crew members two Ecuadorians, a Venezuelan, and a Colombian all of whom are reportedly from South America.
According to police, the suspects were brought before a court in the Azores on Tuesday and have been remanded in pre-trial custody.
Vítor Ananias, head of Portugal’s anti-drug trafficking unit, said the mixed nationalities of those arrested indicated that the criminal network behind the operation extended beyond a single country.
The Lisbon-based Maritime Analysis and Operations Centre (MAOC) confirmed that it had received intelligence suggesting a criminal group was preparing to dispatch a submersible vessel loaded with cocaine bound for Europe. A few days later, a Portuguese naval ship located the sub about 1,000 nautical miles (1,852 km) off the coast of Lisbon, with assistance from the UK’s National Crime Agency and the US Drug Enforcement Administration.
After the seizure, the Portuguese navy said the submersible could not be towed to port due to rough weather and its fragile structure, causing it to sink in the open sea.
Ananias noted the extreme conditions faced by the crew, saying, “Between the heat, the vessel’s fumes, and the rough waves, even one day aboard is unbearable. After 15 or 20 days, all you want is to get out.”
He added that similar incidents have become increasingly common in recent years. In March, authorities intercepted another narco-sub about 1,200 nautical miles from Lisbon carrying 6.5 tonnes of cocaine.
The operation comes as the Trump administration intensifies its crackdown on drug-smuggling vessels allegedly bound for the United States.
Just last week, three men were killed in a U.S. strike on a suspected drug vessel in the Caribbean, U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Sunday. The strike has sparked international controversy, with legal experts questioning its legitimacy under international law and Latin American leaders condemning the targeting of their nationals.
