gooseus 4 hours ago

By Portuguese authorities, not US.

Which is why the title says "seized", and not "torpedoed".

  • kamikazeturtles 3 hours ago

    > Having seized the vessel, the navy said it could not be towed back to shore due to poor weather and its fragile construction, and it later sank in the open sea.

    Well, they did sink the submarine

    • samcheng an hour ago

      They didn’t kill the smugglers extrajudicially, though, which is a big difference.

      • bitbasher 5 minutes ago

        Are we supposed to feel bad for the drug runners that inadvertently kill thousands of people with their drugs?

        Seems like we can take a few out and save the masses.

        I do feel bad for the fish and wildlife that may harm though.

      • Razele 43 minutes ago

        war is extrajudicial

        • harimau777 39 minutes ago

          America isn't at war.

          • gruez 20 minutes ago

            Not even the "war" on drugs or "war" on terror? Semantic games aside, the precedent for the president engaging in military action without congress declaring war was broken decades before Trump.

  • _--__--__ 3 hours ago

    "In addition to the participation of the Portuguese Navy and Judicial Police, the operation was supported by the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Joint Inter-Agency Task Force – South (JIATF-S), and the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency (NCA), working together within the scope of MAOC-N."

    from the linked press release, I'm assuming DEA tipped off the Euro agencies that the sub was headed their way

    • defrost 2 hours ago

      It's equally, if not more, probable that the intelligence about shipment departures came from non-US MAOC-N members and the "the operation" of tracking the craft was where the US liasons provided assistance.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maritime_Analysis_and_Operatio...

      The US isn't the only country with agents blending in on the supply side keeping eyes and ears on activity.

      The EU end has had repeated success infiltrating and cracking 'encrypted' criminal networks on the demand side of such markets.

aerostable_slug 2 hours ago

It would be interesting to know the survival rate of the mariners involved. Do they mostly make it, or is it like serving on a WW2 German u-boat? The craft involved and the descriptions of the passage given to date do not inspire confidence, but then again if they never made it they wouldn't use this method...

kamikazeturtles 3 hours ago

It's probably very expensive patrolling waters 1000 nautical miles from your shores.

What incentive does Portuguese authorities have to do this, especially considering the cocaine would've likely just been shipped off to buyers in other parts of the EU and not affect Portugal as much

  • potato3732842 3 hours ago

    That's like saying "thousands of miles from California" when something is a few miles from Hawaii.

    The article kind of buries it but it was intercepted near the Azores, which are Portuguese territory and policed accordingly. They weren't patrolling in the middle of nowhere.

    Also they probably got spotted by drone or something before the surface vessels got sent in to check it out.