Insane journeys': inside the narco-subs that cross oceans carrying hundreds of millions of pounds of cocaine

"What had driven them to accept such a mission? The answers to those questions, like the identities of the sailors, remain a mystery to Brazilian police. What investigators are certain of is the purpose of the vessel: a dungeon-like narco-submarine that they say was days away from starting a hellish three-week odyssey across the Atlantic carrying hundreds of millions of pounds-worth of cocaine to Europe."

"You could pay me as much money as you liked and I confess I wouldn't go on such an insane journey, said Fernando Casarin, the federal police chief whose special forces recently captured the narco-sub on the eve of its departure from the Amazon. You ask yourself if [for these sailors] it's a question of great courage or a total lack of awareness of what they're getting into, added Casarin,"

"Colombian drug lords first started using narco-subs in reality handmade semi-submersibles that travel just under the surface of the water with only their cockpit sticking out to smuggle cocaine through the Caribbean towards Mexico and the US in the 1980s. More recently, crime bosses have become far more ambitious, commissioning fibreglass creations to ship huge hauls of cocaine thousands of miles to the coasts of Portugal and Spain."

Brazilian federal police seized a dungeon-like semi-submersible narco-submarine days from starting a three-week Atlantic voyage carrying cocaine valued at hundreds of millions of pounds to Europe. Investigators do not yet know the sailors' identities or motivations for accepting the perilous mission. The vessel was discovered in May in a secret dockyard on Marajo island in Para state by federal special forces. Federal police chief Fernando Casarin said he would never undertake such an insane journey and questioned whether the sailors displayed great courage or a total lack of awareness. Narco-subs began as handmade semi-submersibles in the 1980s and have evolved into large fibreglass vessels commissioned to ship massive hauls to Portugal and Spain, driven by eye-watering profits.

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