Into the Night
Verified User
They've tried both already.
Aircraft are easy to track and intercept. They usually used a small airstrip to transfer the product. They could also only carry a limited amount of product.
Submarines are harder to track, but they are slow. The early ones were nothing more than a plywood frame knocked together in someone's yard. That ran just below the surface to evade radar. They could carry a lot of product, but they were easier to intercept as more sonar was brought into service to detect them. The narcos improved their submarines, first using fiberglass, then switching to actual metal submarines that could descend to 100 ft. They were still intercepted, however, and a lot of product was lost. The crew were captured and the submarine was scuttled.
The high speed boats (60mph!) seem to have the best success rate so far, since they present a very low radar profile and are fast enough to outpace any ships trying to intercept and capture them. They're cheap too. Just a small flat boat with a couple of big outboard engines on them, a few barrels of gas, and the rest in product and the crew. These things are used to meet up at intercept points with boats coming out of the U.S.; transfer the money one way, and drugs in the other, then both returning to port.
The U.S. boats are often small cruise ships or pleasure craft, and often carry innocent passengers (using them as human shields...where have you heard THAT trick before?).
So the best place to intercept these shipments is while the drugs are in these high speed boats, just crew, no passengers. Due to their speed, the best way to stop them is with a missile.
Sooner or later, the U.S. (and other nations) will get better at intercepting and destroying these boats. It'll be interesting to see what the narcos come up with next. Like usual, they don't give a damn about the crew. They are more interested in the product they lose in a single intercept.
