April 12, 2012 - In three separate incidents in a one-week period, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Office of Air and Marine (OAM) P-3s operating out of National Air Security Operations Centers in Jacksonville, Florida (NASOC-JAX) and Corpus Christi, Texas (NASOC-CC), assisted in the interdiction of a narco Self Propelled Semi-Submersible (SPSS) carrying close to 14,000 pounds of cocaine, and two go-fast vessels carrying more than 4,400 pounds of cocaine with a combined value of more than $1.3 billion.  

A narco-submarine (also called narco-sub, drug sub and Bigfoot submarine) is a type of custom-made ocean-going self-propelled submersible vessel built by drug traffickers to smuggle drugs.

They are especially known to be used by Colombian drug cartel members to export cocaine from Colombia to Mexico, which is often then transported overland to the United States.  

The first vessels detected in 1993, were semi-submersibles since they could not dive; most of the craft was submerged with little more than the cockpit and the exhaust gas pipes above the water.

The modern narco-submarines are fully submersible submarines. Narco-submarines are designed specifically to be difficult to detect visually or by radar, sonar and infrared systems.

Two P-3s operating in the Western Caribbean assisted the Joint Interagency Task Force-South (JIATF-S) in locating and tracking a Self Propelled Semi-Submersible off the coast of Nicaragua. The crew scuttled the SPSS but authorities recovered 13,889 pounds of cocaine worth more than $1 billion.

A P-3 operating in the Western Caribbean spotted a go-fast vessel carrying suspicious bales. The 40-foot twin-engine vessel was spotted speeding north off the coast of Panama and appeared to be carrying numerous packages when the Florida-based CBP P-3 began tracking the vessel. A local law enforcement patrol boat was vectored in to board the vessel and after inspection, 2,200 pounds of cocaine worth approximately $164 million were recovered. 

A P-3 conducting routine patrols in the Western Caribbean detected an open-hull go-fast vessel containing rectangular bales off the coast of Panama. Local law enforcement officials were called in to pursue, and after boarding the vessel, 2,200 pounds of cocaine worth approximately $164 million were seized and four crewmembers were arrested. 

These three seizures are in addition to $1.3 billion detected by the CBP P-3s operating out of Jacksonville, Fla. and Corpus Christi, Texas in fiscal year 2012 to date.  During fiscal year 2011, the CBP P-3 fleet continued its anti-smuggling success by seizing or disrupting more than 148,000 pounds of cocaine valued at more than $11.1 billion, totaling 20.6 pounds seized for every flight hour, valued at $1.5 million for every hour flown.