CBP team from Jacksonville nails drug sub

CBP team from Jacksonville nails drug sub While customs officials have been thwarting drug smuggling in containers and other marine equipment for many years, a Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine enforcement team based out of Jacksonville notched an unusual victory against smuggling with an interdiction against a semi-submerged vessel allegedly carrying some five metric tons of cocaine.
   A CBP P-3 Orion aircraft out of Jacksonville, working with the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Coast Guard intercepted the self-propelled, semi-submersible vessel, described as being designed to avoid detection, in the Eastern Pacific last Sunday, according to a CBP report issued Wednesday. Four suspected smuggler were taken into custody, the CBP said.
   The air team from Jacksonville spotted the vessel and directed a Navy ship to the scene. When the Navy arrived, the suspects scuttled the vessel. But authorities immediately recovered 11 cocaine bales.
   CBP said the entire shipment would have had a street value of just over $350 million.