The Polícia Judiciária (PJ) released initial images of an operation that led to the interception of a submarine carrying almost seven tons of cocaine in the Atlantic Ocean, approximately 500 nautical miles south of the Azores.
At a press conference, the national director of the PJ, Luís Neves, highlighted international cooperation and the collaboration between the police, the Portuguese Navy, and the Air Force.
“A word of profound recognition to the Portuguese Navy and the Air Force,” he emphasized. “This is also a war against organized crime,” he noted, describing the operation as “a severe blow to a criminal organization.”
According to Luís Neves, the organization involved is one of many trying to “flood Europe with cocaine,” a business underpinning various crimes, including corruption, money laundering, kidnappings, and murders over territorial control. This submarine is “the first found under these circumstances.”
“The submarine is the first we are aware of being seized in the open ocean,” he stated. “Nearly seven tons of cocaine will reach land today,” he clarified, following an earlier report that noted the seizure of 6.5 tons of cocaine.
It’s noteworthy that submarines are often sunk to conceal evidence.
“We are talking about millions at stake here,” he said. The submarine, he elaborated, “came from South America.”
The submarines used on these routes are constructed by the drug cartels themselves, in illegal, artisanal shipyards. “They are manufactured and equipped with cutting-edge technology,” he asserted.
In collaboration with Spanish authorities, several shipyards that build fast boats for this purpose have been dismantled.
“Usually, these organizations have significant economic capability,” Luís Neves mentioned.
In the same press conference, General Cartaxo Alves, Chief of Staff of the Air Force, described a “complex operation.”
“Today we are all to be congratulated. The country, the citizens, and the state institutions that knew how to function,” he concluded.
It should be recalled that five individuals were detained. The submarine’s destination was the Iberian Peninsula.
The suspects, with three different nationalities (Brazil, Colombia, and Spain), are expected to appear before a criminal investigation judge on Wednesday in Lisbon, noted the national director of the PJ.
Besides the PJ, the operation Nautilus included the Portuguese Navy and Air Force, Spain’s Guardia Civil, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, and the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency.
The police action originated from information shared by the Guardia Civil at the Maritime Analysis and Operations Centre – Narcotics (MAOC-N), based in Lisbon, and was developed under the investigation led by the Central Department of Investigation and Penal Action.
The investigation, led by the PJ’s National Unit for Combating Drug Trafficking, continues in cooperation with authorities from other countries.
Five individuals of various nationalities have been detained. The vessel departed from Brazil heading towards the Iberian Peninsula.
[News updated at 17:38]
