Pubdate: Fri, 08 Sep 2000
Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Copyright: 2000 San Jose Mercury News
Contact:  750 Ridder Park Drive, San Jose, CA 95190
Fax: (408) 271-3792
Website: http://www.sjmercury.com/
Author: Ruth Morris, Los Angeles Times

HIGH-TECH CARTEL: INTERNATIONAL ENDEAVOR IMPLICATES RUSSIAN, AMERICAN AND
LOCAL PLAYERS, AND SHOWS THE IMMENSE POWER OF DRUG MONEY.

BOGOTA, Colombia -- They have smuggled cocaine in high-speed boats, in
low-flying planes and even in the centers of lollipops. But on Thursday,
Colombia's audacious drug traffickers astounded even the country's seasoned
police.

A narco-submarine was discovered in a mountain workshop in Zacatativa, just
18 miles west of Bogota, Colombia's capital, police announced. Aided by
intelligence from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, stunned
Colombian police found Russian-language manuals along with the partly
constructed submarine. If completed, the vessel could have transported 11
tons of cargo, Colombian naval officials said.

``Never in my life, in 32 years working with the police, have I seen
anything like this,'' said Leo Arreguin, DEA director for Colombia, speaking
to reporters at the improvised dry dock.

The submarine is an ambitious leap for the traffickers from fast boats and
radar-dodging planes to the sort of technological tool that only a sovereign
naval force usually commands.

Its appearance strengthens the position of anti-narcotics warriors such as
U.S. drug ``czar'' Gen. Barry McCaffrey, who supported a recently approved
$1.3 billion aid package with the argument that Colombia desperately needs
help to stand up to well-connected drug rings with virtually unlimited
budgets.

``It was shocking to me to see how much technology illicit money can buy,''
said Capt. Ismael Idrobo, projects director for Colombian Naval Academy.

The workshop's location high in the Andean mountains led police to deduce
that the traffickers planned to transport the 100-foot vessel to the coast
piece by piece.

The Russian instruction manuals with Spanish translations that police found
in the warehouse suggested that Russians might have been helping to build
the sub, officials said, and also seemed to suggest involvement of two
Americans.

Asked about the involvement of Americans, Arreguin said, ``We're going to
continue with intelligence efforts to find out who they are.''

Arreguin would not elaborate further on why Americans were suspected of
involvement. There was no one at the site when police raided it, and no
arrests were made.

Still, such loose ends were overshadowed by the discovery of the submarine
itself.

Customs authorities have found cocaine and heroin sewn into wigs, inserted
under animals' skin, hidden in breast implants and taped inside musical
instruments. Earlier this year, authorities found hundreds of
tropical-flavored lollipops with cocaine centers.

Employing human carriers to swallow dozens of tightly packed cocaine
capsules for transport to foreign countries has become such a common
smuggling method that it raises eyebrows only when the carriers are
children.

Even by Colombian standards, though, the submarine was in a league of its
own.

Police chief Ernesto Gilibert emphasized the sophisticated workmanship on
display at the submarine construction site. Police had to overcome a
televised security surveillance system when they raided it late Wednesday.
Once inside, they found a watertight hatchway, already completed, along with
the submarine's hull, stabilizers and a propeller.

A naval official said traffickers have used smaller, relatively
unsophisticated ``mini-subs'' to transport drugs in the past. But the vessel
under construction was three times the size of the largest mini-sub, found
five years ago, naval authorities said.

``This is a huge leap,'' Idrobo said. The sub has hydraulic tubing, a
protected propeller, a double hull and diving stabilizers, and was designed
to descend as deep as 325 feet, he said.

Colombia has two coastlines, one on the Pacific Ocean and one on the
Caribbean, making it an ideal shipping point for some of the world's most
powerful drug-trafficking cartels. According to U.S. officials, traffickers
transported more than 260 tons of Colombian cocaine to consumer countries
last year, and production is thought to be rising rapidly.
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