“Camp, claustrophobic and primitive” was how a BBC reporter described the interior of the first “narco-submarine” (that is, a drug submarine) that transported cocaine to Europe from South America.

The crew included two cousins ​​from Ecuador and a former Spanish boxer who started their journey from the Amazon rainforest. They carried energy bars, cans of sardines, and plastic bags that they used as toilets.

These were the only things on the submarine, as well as three tons of cocaine worth more than $150 million.

But their mission didn’t go as planned… Law enforcement, including the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA), tracked down the submarine in late 2019 and three men were arrested off the coast of Galicia in Spain and imprisoned in prison.

Submarines are hard to spot

The case was hailed as a watershed in the fight against drug trafficking and symbolizes a phenomenon that is gradually increasing.

In particular, another submarine was spotted off the coast of Spain last month, again in the region of Galicia.

“For more than 20 years, smugglers have been using submarines to infiltrate Africa and Europe, but these two boats were the first to be captured,” explains Antonio Martínez Duarte, head of the Spanish police’s narcotics department. “They are very difficult to detect,” he emphasizes.

It is even estimated that hundreds of improvised submarines are destined for Europe, which is the largest market for cocaine after the US and has been growing rapidly since the start of the pandemic.

Tsunami of cocaine

One place that has seen a huge increase in cocaine traffic is the port of Antwerp in Belgium. In fact, 110 tons of cocaine were seized in 2022, an amount so large that there were not enough ovens to burn them quickly.

According to some estimates, only 10% of the cocaine entering this port is detected, and the rest is sent to the Netherlands, and from there to all corners of Europe.

The head of customs at a Belgian port told the BBC that in the face of this “tsunami” of cocaine, the authorities will never win the battle.

In fact, this is a battle that has taken the form of a crime on the streets of Antwerp. In January, an 11-year-old girl was killed in a shootout between gangs linked to the city’s cocaine trade.

According to Michel Klis, one of Belgium’s top judges, the cocaine industry is out of control and it’s “an absolutely happy time” for smugglers.

According to the BBC, the crisis in Belgium is affecting all of Europe, with the UN warning that international gangs are cooperating with each other like never before. He even points out that after their success in Europe, they are going to soon expand into Asia and Africa in search of unlimited profits.

^{Source: BBC}