Colombian navy shatters drug cartels with record cocaine seizure Exposes new Australian route

In a groundbreaking six-week anti-narcotics operation, Colombian authorities, collaborating with agencies from 62 countries, seized 225 tonnes of cocaine — a world record for any single operation. 

The haul, which included drugs intercepted from six semi-submersible “narco submarines,” also uncovered a new drug trafficking route targeting Australia, Caliber.Az reports referring to the Guardian.

The operation, named Operation Orion, resulted in the confiscation of 1,400 tonnes of illegal drugs, including over 1,000 tonnes of marijuana. Among the cocaine seized, a significant portion was found aboard a semi-submersible vessel nearly 3,000 miles (4,800 km) off Colombia’s Pacific coast en route to Australia and New Zealand. This marks the first time such a vessel has been discovered heading toward Oceania, highlighting evolving tactics by drug cartels to bypass port security and evade detection on open seas.

“This is a new route that they have opened for semi-submersibles,” explained Captain Manuel Rodríguez, director of the Colombian navy’s anti-narcotics unit. “The vessel was found in the middle of nowhere... They have improved the design of the semi-submersibles and given them extra fuel capacity.”

Australia’s lucrative cocaine market, where a kilogram of the drug can fetch up to $240,000 — three to six times the price in the United States — has incentivized cartels to innovate and expand their operations. Traditionally, Colombian traffickers shipped smaller amounts of 5 to 50 kilograms concealed in cargo ships. The discovery of a semi-submersible vessel on a direct 4,000-mile journey from Tumaco, Colombia, represents a significant escalation.

The operation also resulted in over 400 arrests and disrupted other illegal activities, including arms smuggling and human trafficking. Agencies from the United States, the European Union, and Australia joined forces, pooling resources such as airplanes, helicopters, frigates, and most crucially, intelligence sharing.

“This will prevent thousands of deaths from overdoses and $8.5 billion from reaching the cartels, which definitely makes a hole in the profits of these criminal organizations,” Rodríguez said. The United Nations estimates that 2,700 tonnes of cocaine are produced globally each year, and Colombia’s 2022 record for annual cocaine seizures stood at 671 tonnes, making this operation a significant blow to the drug trade.

Rodríguez credited the success to unprecedented international cooperation, which included contributions from academic institutions like the Royal United Services Institute, a UK think tank specializing in cartel smuggling methods. Naval officials, often waiting weeks at sea in small interceptor boats, faced immense challenges in targeting shipments in remote oceanic regions.

Looking ahead, Rodríguez expressed optimism about using artificial intelligence to enhance drug detection. “It’s going to help us a lot to identify containers or cargo vessels that could be contaminated... profiling the suspicious one is really hard if you don’t have the way to process all that information,” he said.

The success of Operation Orion underscores the ability of global authorities to adapt to the ever-evolving tactics of drug cartels, potentially signalling a turning point in international anti-narcotics efforts.

By Tamilla Hasanova