Cartel submarines getting 'bigger and better' at smuggling drugs into Europe, warns former garda

Michael O’Sullivan said that while these 'narco subs' have only so far been detected off Spain and in the Atlantic, it was possible cocaine cartels could send one to Ireland — adding they might have already done so. Picture: iStock

South American drug cartels are sending semi-submersible vessels to Europe that are “bigger and better”, a former senior garda and ex-head of an EU drug interdiction agency has said.

Michael O’Sullivan said that while these “narco subs” have only so far been detected off Spain and in the Atlantic, it was possible cocaine cartels could send one to Ireland — adding they might have already done so.

The former assistant garda commissioner said the discovery this week of a "narco sub" by the Portugese navy in the mid-Atlantic — which was on its way to Europe with a 6.5 tonnes of cocaine on board and five passengers — illustrates how sophisticated the engineering of the cartels is getting.

The operation involved intelligence gathered by MAOC-N, the EU agency tasked with countering the trafficking of cocaine across the Atlantic and cannabis from Africa.

Mr O’Sullivan, a former director of the agency, said semi-submersibles are very difficult to spot.

He was head of MAOC-N when the first semi-submersible sent to Europe was discovered in November 2019.

“Before then, naval experts said you can’t get across the Atlantic in one — but here we had 3.3 tonnes of cocaine in a vessel, that was built in the Amazon jungle, and sailed across the Atlantic for 23 days with three men on board and got to the coast of Galicia [northern Spain],” Mr O’Sullivan said.

He said that Spanish investigators suspected the "narco subs" had previously been used, but had just never been detected.

Significant seizures

Last January, there were reports that a suspected semi-submersible had broken into two as a fishing boat was towing it to a port in Galicia.

On Wednesday, MAOC-N said Portugese authorities had intercepted a semi-submersible near the Azores in the Atlantic ocean carrying a massive 6.5 tonnes of cocaine and with five men on board.

The Portuguese police-military operation was assisted by the Spanish Guardia Civil, the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and Britain's National Crime Agency (NCA).

They said the cocaine haul was bound for a number of European countries.

“This one is significant,” Mr O’Sullivan said. “You would want massive power to bring five people and carry 6.5 tonnes of cocaine across the Atlantic.

They are getting bigger and better — gone from 3 tonnes to 6.5 tonnes

“It is a very significant seizure and to get the semi-submersible as well.”

He said that the subs are “very difficult” to detect from the air, adding: “They are just 3ft above water and are painted grey, so they look like waves from high up.”

Asked if he thought cartels could decide to send them to the Irish coast, he said: “It depends on who’s behind it. 

They go to Galicia because they know the territory better, the pilot knows the area, but could they go the coast of Cork or Kerry? Yes they could

"They might have already done and we don’t know.”

The massive haul near the Azores comes just a week after a similar amount of cocaine, 6.4 tonnes, was seized by the French navy from a fishing vessel off the West African coast, a major supply route for South American cartels to the lucrative European market.

The French were also assisted by MAOC-N, the DEA, and the NCA.