The secret submarines that carry cocaine across oceans

Ecuador has become a major hub in the global cocaine trade, where drug cartels build homemade submarines and semi-submersible vessels to transport tons of cocaine undetected across oceans. Each vessel can carry up to 10 tons of cocaine, making them one of the cartels’ most effective smuggling tools.

Source The New York Times

Constructing one of these submarines costs about $1 million, and many are built deep in South American jungles using metal or fiberglass. Since the mid-2000s, traffickers have upgraded them with cooling systems to evade thermal detection, while U.S. and Ecuadorian authorities intercept only a fraction of the fleet.

Ports like Guayaquil now serve as key departure points, moving roughly 30% of the world’s cocaine supply. Ecuador’s coastal position, fishing ports, and weak maritime controls make it an ideal base for cartels sending cocaine to the U.S., Europe, and beyond — turning the Pacific into a hidden drug highway.