The Star reported in May 2019 on the emergence of “Drug Subs”, semi-submersibles that are tooling the waters between Colombia and Costa Rica, bringing tons of cocaine en route to the USA. US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) officials expressed concern that the number of drug subs was increasing, and in fact, it was reported in December that eight subs had been either abandoned on the beach in Costa Rica, or intercepted by the Costa Rican Coast Guard. This might be just the tip of the iceberg of underwater drug transport through and around Costa Rica.

Coast Guard Director Martin Arias commented, “This is almost an everyday occurrence for us – tracking drug subs through our waters. Of course, it is our goal to try to stop these vessels carrying drugs from entering our waters or landing on our shores. But there are two other issues of great concern to us. These boats must carry vast amounts of fuel to reach their destinations – fuel not always contained in leak proof containers. The gas or diesel leaks out, contaminating our oceans. We are also concerned about the health and safety of the operators of these vessels, operating in unhealthy, toxic conditions.”

Arias describes the condition of the three or four men working the drug subs, in dark, uncomfortable, unhygienic, cramped quarters, with no sanitary facilities. Photos of the interior of one of the captured boats show dirty clothing and trash strewn about the floor of the sub, with buckets of canned tuna and crackers for food, and other buckets for a toilet. It is not luxury travel, but it seems to pay luxury wages.

During the 1980s, go-fast boats became the drug-smuggling vessel of choice in many parts of the world. Since those boats could be detected by radar, Colombian drug cartels began developing semi-submersibles which were far less easily detected and apprehended.

Probably the first time US Coast Guard found such a submarine was in 2006, and they dubbed it “Bigfoot”, because they had heard rumors of such boats, but had never seen one. Then one was found in Costa Rican waters carrying three tons of cocaine, and more and more boats were spotted, up to ten per month. Few were captured, as the crews sink them quickly if in danger or once they have made their delivery.

By 2009, the US detected as many as 60 drug sub events, and in 2019 there were four times more. It is calculated that these subs move as many as 450 tons of cocaine per year, with a street value of up to $500 million. These are sums which make the high risk and discomfort of the journey well worth the effort.
The most recent capture of a drug sub in Costa Rican territory happened last week, 100 kilometers off the coast of Punta Burica, in the Southern Zone. 2,500 liters of diesel fuel were seized, as well as 3.5 tons of cocaine.
Authorities explained the difficulty of cleaning up after a drug sub is captured, removing both fuel and drug remnants, to protect the environment from being contaminated. Unfortunately, the drug smugglers manage to escape capture four out of five times

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