Portuguese officials said Monday that authorities recovered a record cocaine shipment after intercepting a semi-submersible vessel near the Azores, marking the country's largest-ever seizure involving a "narco sub."
Portugal's judicial police said investigators found close to 10 tons of cocaine aboard the craft after it was stopped about 230 nautical miles from the Azores archipelago, according to The Guardian.
A police spokeswoman said it was the largest cocaine seizure in Portugal’s history.
The operation, carried out over recent days, involved Portugal's navy and air force and included cooperation with authorities from the United Kingdom and the United States, police said.
Officials said the interception took place in difficult weather conditions in open seas.
Police said the vessel was carrying about 300 packages of cocaine when it was stopped.
Authorities said 35 packages were lost after the semi-submersible vessel later sank.
Police said four people aboard the vessel were taken into custody: three Colombians and one Venezuelan.
Investigators said the craft had departed from Latin America and was believed to be headed toward Europe.
Police released video footage on social media showing officers boarding the low-profile vessel at sea and detaining suspects during the operation.
Semi-submersible craft are widely used by international drug trafficking networks because they ride low in the water and are difficult to detect by radar.
Unlike true submarines, they generally cannot fully submerge, but their design helps them blend into sea conditions and reduce their visible profile.
Historically, many of the vessels have been built in clandestine shipyards in remote areas of South America and used to move cocaine northward toward Central America and Mexico.
European authorities, however, have increasingly warned in recent years that traffickers are attempting longer transatlantic crossings to deliver bulk shipments closer to European markets.
Portugal's location on Europe's Atlantic approaches, including the Azores, has made it a strategic corridor for maritime trafficking routes.
Law enforcement agencies working in the region have repeatedly pointed to multiagency coordination as critical for locating vessels that can travel far from shore and operate outside traditional shipping lanes.
The latest seizure surpasses a previous Portuguese record set in March 2025, when judicial police announced the confiscation of about 7 tons of cocaine from another semi-submersible intercepted in the Atlantic near the Azores while en route to the Iberian Peninsula.
The broader trend is unfolding as global cocaine production and seizures have climbed to new highs, according to the United Nations, increasing pressure on European authorities to disrupt supply chains that increasingly rely on maritime routes.
Officials have also cautioned that the voyages can be deadly, citing past cases in which semi-submersible craft were found with bodies aboard after apparent onboard emergencies.
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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