Colombian Cartel Narco Submarines
Something a bit different this time compared to most of the improvised vehicles here.
This is a 'Narco Submarine' captured by the Guatemalan National Civil Police on the 22nd of April 2017. It was discovered abandoned and without it's cargo of drugs, and was likely operated by the Colombian El Clan del Golfo (formally the Úsuga Clan, aka Los Urabeños) Cartel and para-military organisation and used for transport of drugs through international waters to America and Mexico.
Despite the name 'Narco Submarine' these drug smuggling vehicles are not commonly fully submersible, but, like this example here, semi-submersible, with the body of the body being under water but the small driving area and ports being above water when the vehicle is fully loaded with cargo and ballast. The reason for this semi-submersed craft instead of a fully submersible craft is simply due to easier construction, because they do not require hydroplanes (small underwater wings) to make small adjustments to depth and do not require additional plumbing and pumps to regulate the amount of water aboard as ballast within the submarine.
This particular example is 12M long and 2.5M wide. Despite it's speedboat like appearance, this did not have a very high top speed as it was reliant on it's stealth and low profile to avoid detection, and this example had room for approximately 5 tons of drugs (10,000 pounds) that were not on-board when the vessel was discovered abandoned. Many of the Narco-Subs are camouflaged, either in greys or blues, like this one, or more greenish colours. Snorkels are common as well. Narco-Submarines also showed up recently in the game Ghost Recon-Wildlands, set in Bolivia, but I could not find any evidence for Bolivian Cartel submarines being captured.
Here is another angle of the same vessel-
They are commonly constructed from fibreglass and seem to have various different layouts depending on time and improvements, as Narco-Subs have been discovered since the 1990's and have been changing over time. A range of different vessels have been captured by various Naval forces, such as Guatemala, the US Coast Guard, El Salvadorian forces and others. Here is an example that was captured by the US Coast Guard during November 2017-
Variations include internal or outboard motors, fully, semi or speedboat designs, and position of the crew compartments on the vehicle, with them being centred or rear mounted. Sizes and crews vary from smaller 2 man vessels to ones with crews of 4 or more, and similarly cargo capacity ranges from 1 ton of drugs to 5 tons or more. (1)
A chronology of Narco Submarines, courtesy of H Sutton-
1992 - Colombian Navy begins to detect modified speedboats and semi-submersibles. Typically built out of fiberglass with 1 to 1.5 tons capacity.
1994 - More elaborate submersible design with radar, a depth meter and an internal oxygen supply captured in Tayrona Park, Colombia. Capacity still around 1 ton.1994 - Half built submersible captured in Turbo, Colombia.
1995 - Incomplete submarine captured in Cartagena, Colombia. Much more capable design.2000 - half-built very advanced submarine captured at Facatativa, Colombia. From 2001 to 2004 there was a significant gap in captures. It is likely that there was very little SSPS activity in this time.
March 2005 - Low profile boat captured in Tumaco, Colombia. Very little press coverage outside Colombia - only craft captured that year.
March 2006 - Large low-profile boat captured on River Timbo near Pital, outside Buenaventura, Colombia by Marine Riverine Infantry Brigade Nr.2.
November 2006 - US forces capture a low-profile boat, dubbed Bigfoot-1.August 2006 - Spanish police capture a fully-submersible narco sub off Galicia, Spain. The craft was locally built in Spain and in design terms unrelated to Colombian examples.
August 2007 - Large low profile boat captured in Guajira on Colombia's Caribbean coast.
November 2007 - Low profile boat captured near Buenaventura in Colombia. Close resemblance to Guajira boat but single engine/screw.
2007 - 'Narco-Torpedo' type craft start to be captured.
2008 - US forces capture a second low-profile boat similar to earlier 2005 Tumaco boat. Dubbed Bigfoot-2.
May 2010 - Low-profile boat captured in Ecuador.
June/July 2010 - Large (30m) Submarine captured in Ecuador.
1- H Sutton, 'Covert Shores: Narco Submarines'