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Colombia’s navy has intercepted a semi-submarine ship loaded with cocaine in the Pacific Ocean in an operation that has seen hundreds of arrests.
It said the ship had enough fuel to sail to Australia, on what was believed to be a new smuggling route, and maps showed it was heading there.
Colombian security forces said cocaine smuggling from South America to Australia was particularly lucrative, as a kilogram of the illegal drug could fetch up to $240,000 (£190,000) there – six times more than in the US. Colombian security forces said.
Officials said the semi-submarine was the third vessel they had seized in that part of the Pacific.
He said it suggested to him that the gangs had established a direct sea route to Australia.
According to the OECD, Australians have the highest per capita cocaine use in the world, followed by the UK.
The latest narco sub was intercepted 1,200 miles southwest of Clipperton Island, an uninhabited French coral atoll in the Pacific Ocean.
The wood and fiberglass vessel is believed to have left the Colombian port of Tomahawk and traveled thousands of miles before it was stopped.
The three semi-submarines they intercepted were all capable of going from Colombia to Australia without the need to refuel at sea, said Vice Admiral Orlando Enrique Grisles, chief of staff of naval operations for the Colombian navy.
“The first one was discovered in Colombian waters, and thanks to its maps we pointed the way,” the vice admiral told reporters at a news conference.
He added that when we started working with the Australian authorities.
The semi-submarines were intercepted as part of “Orion,” a multinational naval operation in which security forces from dozens of countries seized a total of 225 tons of cocaine over six weeks.
Orion had arrested more than 400 people in several countries.
Vice Adam Gressels said Orion has uncovered close ties between drug-trafficking gangs in South America and Oceania.
“They are organized crime networks that are interconnected,” he said.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro congratulated the Navy for the successful operation.
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