A US warship intercepted a submersible believed to be linked to the drug trade off Colombia’s Pacific coastline, Colombian officials said on Saturday.
The USS Simpson, a guided missile frigate, immobilized the craft and detained four men aboard, the Colombian navy said in a statement.
The move was authorized as part of an bilateral agreement interdicting sea crafts transporting drugs.
The four Colombians aboard the “narco sub” opened the valves when they saw the Simpson and sank their vessel, the statement said.
The Colombian navy has intercepted, sometimes with help from other countries, 39 submersibles, including six in this year, thwarting “the transportation of more than 30 tonnes of cocaine abroad.”
Security officials report an increase in the use of locally built submersibles, which can be at sea for up to 14 days and have a range of up to 3,200km. The vessels, often made of fiberglass, are difficult to detect with radar or sonar.
Meanwhile, four Colombian soldiers were killed and two civilians wounded on Saturday when a soldier stepped on a land mine while on patrol near the northeastern town of El Tarra.
The army blamed Marxist guerrillas with the National Liberation Army.
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