Narco-sub carrying 1.7 tonnes of cocaine seized in Atlantic

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm274lmg7m1o

53•tartoran•3mo ago

Comments

gooseus•3mo ago

By Portuguese authorities, not US.

Which is why the title says "seized", and not "torpedoed".

kamikazeturtles•3mo ago

> Having seized the vessel, the navy said it could not be towed back to shore due to poor weather and its fragile construction, and it later sank in the open sea.

Well, they did sink the submarine

samcheng•3mo ago

They didn’t kill the smugglers extrajudicially, though, which is a big difference.

Razele•3mo ago

war is extrajudicial

harimau777•3mo ago

America isn't at war.

gruez•3mo ago

Not even the "war" on drugs or "war" on terror? Semantic games aside, the precedent for the president engaging in military action without congress declaring war was broken decades before Trump.

ziml77•3mo ago

So? We hated it then and we hate it now.

wormius•3mo ago

I love me a good Tu Quoque defense. Keep em coming! I can't remember if we supported him cuz he wasn't the war candidate or we supported him cuz he was or if it even matters and we just make up bullshit excuses for what suits us at the time with whatever is convenient for the given argument...

hulitu•3mo ago

They surely need circus for the plebeians. /s

ta9000•3mo ago

Tell that to the thousands of parents that lose a kid each year. This trash has to stop making it into the US.

henry2023•3mo ago

Everyone talks about stopping drugs entering the border but no one talks about dismantling the extremely efficient logistic network that makes those drugs available in every corner of each major city.

I guess it’s easier to blow up random boats in the pacific than prosecuting corrupt officials but is it effective?

ta9000•3mo ago

Why not do both?

wilg•3mo ago

Because it's un-American and murder to kill criminal suspects instead of trying them in a court of law.

simianparrot•3mo ago

I would say it's as American as it gets, and in this case justified as well. Do you not know America's history..? Even recent one? Obama ordered drone strikes in foreign countries as well.

wilg•3mo ago

We know it’s not justified because they aren’t enemy combatants.

Saline9515•3mo ago

What is the difference between this and sending hellfire missiles on Afghanis based on cell phone data, during the Obama administration?

wilg•3mo ago

One is illegal.

wilg•3mo ago

Losing a kid doesn't mean America is at war?

n8henrie•3mo ago

To cocaine? By "lose a kid" I assume you mean death and not some euphemism for addiction.

tommica•3mo ago

As fucked up as the situation is, they were warned that they would be blown up if they tried it.

Stevvo•3mo ago

Giving warning you are going to violate international law doesn't make it any less illegal or immoral.

complianceowl•3mo ago

What do you think about Obama killing an *American citizen* via drone extrajudicially?

hulitu•3mo ago

That's how you differentiate old empires from the curent ones: they are tired of all this killing.

complianceowl•3mo ago

What do you think about Obama killing an American citizen via drone extrajudicially?

OKRainbowKid•3mo ago

Why does that matter? Does that excuse or justify these extrajudicial killings (murders?) in any way?

nickthegreek•3mo ago

We don't know if the Trump admin is killing American citizens in these. They don't know who they are killing either. Maybe the first step to pointing a weapon is knowing who you are pointing it at.

tehwebguy•3mo ago

It was an unforgivable crime, obviously. Much like these war crimes.

water-data-dude•3mo ago

Whataboutism isn't a good argument.

_--__--__•3mo ago

"In addition to the participation of the Portuguese Navy and Judicial Police, the operation was supported by the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Joint Inter-Agency Task Force – South (JIATF-S), and the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency (NCA), working together within the scope of MAOC-N."

from the linked press release, I'm assuming DEA tipped off the Euro agencies that the sub was headed their way

defrost•3mo ago

It's equally, if not more, probable that the intelligence about shipment departures came from non-US MAOC-N members and the "the operation" of tracking the craft was where the US liasons provided assistance.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maritime_Analysis_and_Operatio...

The US isn't the only country with agents blending in on the supply side keeping eyes and ears on activity.

The EU end has had repeated success infiltrating and cracking 'encrypted' criminal networks on the demand side of such markets.

kamikazeturtles•3mo ago

It's probably very expensive patrolling waters 1000 nautical miles from your shores.

What incentive does Portuguese authorities have to do this, especially considering the cocaine would've likely just been shipped off to buyers in other parts of the EU and not affect Portugal as much

potato3732842•3mo ago

That's like saying "thousands of miles from California" when something is a few miles from Hawaii.

The article kind of buries it but it was intercepted near the Azores, which are Portuguese territory and policed accordingly. They weren't patrolling in the middle of nowhere.

Also they probably got spotted by drone or something before the surface vessels got sent in to check it out.

neom•3mo ago

Wow, that Island looks beautiful! Hadn't heard of Azores before, photos of it make me want to visit. :)

https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=6302e02a0ef1fe43&sxsrf...

moltar•3mo ago

The photos are heavily photoshopped. But the island is still very beautiful.

ternus•3mo ago

I visited in person several years back and was astonished - the grass really was that shade of lime green.

Don't miss Sete Cidades: the cluster of small towns inside the caldera of an extinct volcano. Gorgeous.

aerostable_slug•3mo ago

It would be interesting to know the survival rate of the mariners involved. Do they mostly make it, or is it like serving on a WW2 German u-boat? The craft involved and the descriptions of the passage given to date do not inspire confidence, but then again if they never made it they wouldn't use this method...

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Narco-sub carrying 1.7 tonnes of cocaine seized in Atlantic

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