A huge drug bust went down last week near the Colombian port city of Tumaco, with authorities seizing approximately £13.5 million ($18m) worth of cocaine.
On Sunday (23 August), Colombian National Police confiscated the stash from a narco-submarine – a specially-made sea vessel built by drug lords to smuggle illegal substances overseas.
Incredible footage shows the moment an officer gets inside the vehicle and pulls out numerous packages of cocaine, which are reported to have been transported by Mexico’s fastest-growing cartel.
According to The Daily Mail, the country’s National Defence Ministry valued the submarine at nearly £900,000 ($1.2m) and noted that it had enough space to carry up to three tons of the illicit substance.
Alongside the ample storage space, the submarine was reportedly fitted with a unique navigation system that was programmed to deliver the goods in Jalisco, Mexico, during the first week of September.
However, it didn’t make it past authorities, who managed to both seize the cargo and arrest three people caught staffing the vessel.
That said, the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) is still on the hunt for Nemesio ‘El Mencho’ Oseguera, leader of the Mexican criminal group Jalisco New Generation Cartel – the intended recipient for the 1,055 kilos of cocaine.
Intelligence accounts state that the shipment had been organised by the Grupos Armados Organizados Residuales E-30 (Residual Organized Armed Groups), one of Colombia’s most notoriously dangerous gangs.
Their intention was to deliver the goods to the Jalisco syndicate in the resort town of Costa Careyes – but gang members were stopped in their tracks by the officials that carried out the raid.
As said, El Mencho is still at large and is considered one of Mexico’s most-wanted drug lords, with the DEA offering a £7.5 million ($10 million) reward for information that could lead to his arrest.
The rise of the powerful Jalisco New Generation Cartel – who are described as a group that ‘shoots first and asks questions later’ – has fuelled rising murder rates in the North American country.
Rivalling that of Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán’s Sinaloa Cartel, now headed by Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada, the organisation smuggles illegal drugs including cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin and fentanyl-laced heroin to the US.
Earlier this year, Maria Guadalupe Lopez Esquivel was shot dead during a shootout with police.
Nicknamed ‘La Catrina’, the 21-year-old was suspected of being one of the leaders of the Jalisco gang, having joined back in 2017.
