HOME-MADE SUBMARINE HELD TONS OF COCAINE

THE sight of three PVC pipes skimming the ocean's surface off the
Pacific coast tipped off authorities in Costa Rica, who have seized a
home-made submarine packed with three tons of cocaine. Four men were
arrested after they were found travelling inside the 49ft wood and
fibreglass craft, breathing through the pipes. The submarine was
spotted oon Friday 103 miles off Costa Rica's coast near Cabo Blanco
National Park on the Nicoya peninsula, said Security Minister
Fernando Berrocal. It moved at about 7mph and was about 6ft below the surface.

"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. US Coast Guard, US Drug Enforcement Administration
agents, FBI and Colombian officials aided Costa Rican authorities in
the operation. Two Colombians, a Guatemalan and a Sri Lankan man were
arrested and taken to the United States since they were captured in
international waters, Berrocal said.

Officials took the submarine to a Coast Guard station and were trying
to determine its origin. It was found with several tanks of fuel, but
Costa Rican authorities said the makeshift vessel, which had a bailer
to keep out water, was unlikely to have travelled any great distance.
In March, the Colombian navy seized a 60ft-long, fibreglass submarine
that likely was used to haul tons of cocaine out to speedboats in the
Pacific Ocean headed for Central America and on to the United States.
Three people were arrested and two speedboats seized during the
operation, but no narcotics 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
extremely difficult to smuggle drugs in small airplanes without being
detected. So far this year, Costa Rican authorities have seized 18
tons of cocaine.