As the US steps up attacks on suspected drug smuggling boats, blowing up ships and killing their crews, US allies across the Atlantic are waging their own battles at sea with suspected drug smugglers.
“Criminal organizations… acquire the drugs in Latin America, and then the price at which they market them… there is a big profit margin here,” said Vaz, director of the National Unit for Combating Drug Trafficking in the Portuguese Judicial Police.
The drugs arrive in cargo ships, high-speed boats and, increasingly, low-budget, semi-submersible vessels known colloquially as ‘narco-subs’. These boats sail largely unnoticed, with only the top of the vessel visible – often painted, researchers say, in steely blues and grays to blend in with the stormy Atlantic waves and evade surveillance efforts.
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Spanish police are pursuing a high-speed boat with suspected drug smugglers on board, footage released by the Guardia Civil shows. (Guardia Civil via Storyful)
Portuguese authorities made a remarkable bust this fall, intercepting a narco-submarine in the mid-Atlantic Ocean with 1.7 tons of cocaine on board. But European authorities acknowledge that many others are getting past their defenses.
“The ban rate for these subs is roughly between 10% and maybe 5%,” said Sam Woolston, a Honduras-based investigative journalist specializing in organized crime.
“Even if one or two are caught by the authorities, it won’t be enough to deter them.”
European authorities usually choose to intercept narco boats, which falls far short of the Trump administration’s policy of destroying them. Instead, the often low-level crews are held for questioning, hoping to shed light on shady drug lords, gang operations and distribution networks.
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“We need to be more muscular – that is, with more resources and greater capacity to intervene,” Vaz said. “But of course within the rule of law.”
As for narco-submarines, those ships are not new, but they have never crossed the oceans.
Portuguese police inspect the scene after capturing a narco-submarine in March 2025, authorities said. (Policia Judiciaria.)
“But it’s all about the money, and it’s all about the risk, and right now I don’t think these networks see Europe as a huge risk for them.”
Journalist Woolston says the transatlantic voyage is usually staffed by “desperate people” given its dangerous nature.
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‘You are locked in a very small compartment for days, usually breathing in things like diesel fumes. There have been cases of narco-submarines with crews of dead bodies.
“The kingpins wouldn’t come on these boats.”
