Navy targets drug submarines

Wednesday, June 02, 2010

HMS Manchester could be used to track the miniature submarines used by South American gangs to smuggle cocaine through the Caribbean, it has emerged.

The Type 42 destroyer will carry out its Caribbean patrol supporting British overseas territories during the hurricane season along with RFA Wave Ruler, but may also attempt to disrupt drug smuggling operations.

Drug gangs are said to have used their considerable buying power, estimated at over £30bn, to purchase hi-tech vehicles to evade detection, including fast boats and midget submarines said to be converted from tourist industry viewing subs.

One midget submarine can carry up to five tonnes of cocaine, and the boats are thought to be currently in use along America's west coast. HMS Manchester's Lynx helicopter could track the submarines, waiting for them to surface for air or need to recharge its batteries.

Around 30 tonnes of cocaine are said to pass through the Caribbean daily, and more than 1,400 tonnes is estimated to cross the Atlantic every year, with just 43 tonnes seized in 2009.

Rear Admiral Mark Anderson, commander of Fleet operations, said: "We are starting to see traffickers using increasingly more exotic mean to get drugs through.

"They now have their own submarines and submersibles or boats that have a very low above-water profile – just pretty much the wheelhouse, and the rest of the boat is underwater. There are a few that are now making the run across to West Africa."