These stealthy almost-submarines, with only about a foot of clearance above water, are all but invisible to radar and are only rarely spotted by Navy air patrols on the lookout for trafficking vessels.

Even when air patrollers spot the subs, attempts to board and make arrests are invariably met by the scuttling of the submarine and the loss of all incriminating evidence to the depths of the Pacific. Brazen submarine crew members meanwhile float at the surface, waiting for U.S. rescue and transport home without risk of prosecution. This has become a perfect method for trafficking cocaine north from Columbia to Mexico.

No More "Get Out of Jail Free Cards" for Traffickers

A new American law (and Columbian legislation) seeks to complicate the drug traffickers' underwater efforts by criminalizing the act of crewing "unregistered craft plying international waters with the intent to evade detection." Consequently, as Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) Columbian Regional Director Jay Bergman explained, "You don't get a get-out-of-jail free card anymore."

Illicit submariners now face as much as 15 years in prison.

Jungle-Built Submarines Are No Longer "Floating Coffins"

Drug traffickers have used submarines for years while questing to evade detection on their journey northwards, but older submarines, sometimes dubbed "floating coffins," were small and slow and not often favored over the alternatives of speed boats or fishing trawlers.

Increasing policing of the fishing trawlers previously favored for the transport of drugs, coupled with an increase in the sophistication and capabilities of the "jungle subs," has led to a renewed focus on submersibles for trafficking efforts. New generation drug-running subs can be as long as 60 feet in length.

The Columbian Navy claims that international efforts have resulted in the seizure of 23 of these larger subs over the past three years. Drug trafficking experts now estimate that a full third of U.S.-bound cocaine makes its way out of Columbia via submarine.

These new subs have a nautical range of over 2,000 miles on a single fueling of 3,000 gallons of diesel. Cocaine prices in Mexico triple those in Columbia, meaning a sub delivering 10 tons nets over $40 million in profits. The profits on each run are great enough that traffickers prefer to scuttle the subs after delivery in Mexico rather than risk detection on a return trip south to Columbia.

Three drug trafficking submarine crews caught already this year have been arrested under the new law and face trial in a Tampa, Florida federal court. U.S. officials are also seeking the extradition of Columbian Tammer Portocarrero, a man they consider a master jungle-sub builder, who led a secret jungle shipyard near Buenaventura, Columbia. His recently built and seized submarines show increasing technological sophistication, including techniques used to reduce engine heat signatures.

Submarine crews face very cramped and uncomfortable conditions during their week-long trips north (the subs do not have bathrooms). Columbian intelligence officers say that before the new law came into effect, crews of four would share a $50,000 payment for making the voyage, but as a consequence of the new legal risks of each journey, the price per trip has increased to about $65,000 per crew.