By Calvin Biesecker
Through the first nine months of Fiscal Year 2008 United States Government homeland security forces have reported thwarting 62 events involving the use of semi-submersible craft to smuggle drugs into the country, a sharp increase in the use of the relatively stealthy vessels over the past seven years.
Of note, on Sept. 13, a Coast Guard law enforcement team detached to the Navy’s USS McInerny frigate operating in the Eastern Pacific Ocean seized a stateless 59- foot steel and fiberglass self-propelled, semi-submersible (SSPS) vessel that was more sophisticated than any SPSS vessel previously discovered in transit. To a certain degree the vessel resembles the ironclad vessel of Civil War reknown, the USS Monitor, because it has a similar flattop that rests just above the surface of the water with most of the hull submerged. The only item missing is the cylinder on deck that housed the Union vessel’s guns.
The design of this particular SPSS was more “refined” than any that have previously been discovered, a Coast Guard spokesman told Defense Daily on Friday. There was more metal, more advanced electronics, and the vessel had “cleaner lines,” he said. It also used a more sophisticated fuel system that provided the ballast, unlike the typical bags of rocks and concrete, he added.
The range of the vessel was about 5,000 kilometers, or enough to allow it to get from South America to the U.S. without replenishing, the spokesman said. The SSPS had a crew of four and was carrying about seven tons of cocaine with a street value of about $187 million.
The flat topped SPSS was spotted by a Navy aircraft that alerted the McInerny. The craft was seized about 350 miles west of Guatemala. The Coast Guard boarding team deployed on small boats from the McInerny and was able to surprise the SPSS. However, one of the SPSS operators tried to counter the boarding attempt by reversing the engines at high speed in an attempt to throw the boarding team into the sea. The boarding party eventually gained control of the vessel, which was later towed to land.
On Sept. 17 another Navy patrol aircraft spotted a 60-foot stateless SPSS and vectored the Coast Guard 378-foot cutter Midgett to intercept the vessel about 400 miles south of the Mexico-Guatemala border in the Eastern Pacific Ocean. This SPSS also had about seven tons of cocaine that was offloaded with a street value of about $196 million. In this instance the Coast Guard boarding team was able to recover all the drugs before the vessel sank.
Given their low profile, the SPSS vessels are difficult to spot, either by radar or the human eye.
Because stateless SPSS craft are not illegal, if the drugs aboard them aren’t recovered, the vessel operators can’t be prosecuted. Legislation has passed the House making the operation of stateless SPSS illegal. The bill is pending in the Senate.