Narco Submarine with 1.7 Tons of Cocaine Intercepted: Crew Faces Preventive Detention in the Azores

Four men detained by the Judicial Police (PJ) while traveling in a drug-laden, handcrafted submarine have been placed in preventive detention. This coercive measure was applied after they were heard by a criminal investigation judge in Ponta Delgada, on the island of São Miguel in the Azores.

The information was revealed on Tuesday during a PJ press conference in Lisbon. The submersible was carrying 1740 kilograms of cocaine and was operated by two Ecuadorians, one Venezuelan, and one Colombian, aged between 40 and 65. They reportedly spent between two and three weeks at sea under critical conditions.

According to authorities, all crew members had extensive maritime experience, and the objective was to navigate the submarine to a point in the Iberian Peninsula.

At the press conference, the situation was described as "recurrent" by Vítor Ananias, the PJ's criminal investigation coordinator, who emphasized that the increase in such operations is facilitated by technological evolution and access to new means, allowing drug trafficking networks to operate over increasingly longer distances.

The Navy collaborated with the PJ in the operation, which involved 70 military personnel and over 138 mission hours. The submarine was located more than 1000 nautical miles (approximately 1852 kilometers) from Lisbon. Due to adverse weather conditions and the fragility of the vessel, which was built from fiberglass, it was not possible to tow the narco-submarine, and it ultimately sank in the open sea.

This was the second vessel of this type seized by the PJ in 2025. The first interception occurred in March as part of Operation Nautilus, when the PJ, in collaboration with the Portuguese Navy and Air Force, Spain's Guardia Civil, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA), intercepted another submarine loaded with seven tons of drugs from Brazil, also bound for the Iberian Peninsula.