HOMEMADE SUBMARINE CARRYING COCAINE SEIZED OFF COSTA RICA

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica - Tipped off by three plastic pipes
mysteriously skimming the ocean's surface, authorities seized a
homemade submarine packed with 3 tons of cocaine off Costa Rica's
Pacific coast.

Four men traveled inside the 50-foot wood and fiberglass craft,
breathing through the pipes. The craft sailed along at about 7 mph,
only six feet beneath the surface, Security Minister Fernando Berrocal
said.

The submarine was seen Friday 103 miles off the coast near Cabo Blanco
National Park on the Nicoya peninsula.

"This is the first time in the country's history that a craft with
these characteristics has been caught near the national coasts,"
Berrocal said in a statement.

U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents, FBI and
Colombian officials aided Costa Rican authorities in the operation,
Berrocal said Sunday.

Two Colombians, a Guatemalan and a Sri Lankan were arrested and taken
to the United States, because they were captured in international
waters, Berrocal said.

Officials took the submarine to a Costa Rican Coast Guard station and
were trying to determine its origins, the Security Ministry said. It
was found with several tanks of gas, but Costa Rican authorities said
the vessel, which had a bailer to keep out water, probably did not
travel far.

So far this year, Costa Rican authorities have seized 18 tons of cocaine.

In March, the Colombian navy seized a 60-foot fiberglass submarine
that likely was used to haul tons of cocaine out to speedboats in the
Pacific Ocean for transportation to Central America and on to the
United States. Three people were arrested and two speedboats seized
during the operation, but no drugs were found.

Colombian authorities say smuggling cocaine by sea has become the top
method of transport in recent years, as radar systems have made it
difficult to smuggle drugs in small planes.