Cocaine smuggling submarine seized

WASHINGTON - The Drug Enforcement Administration says it has helped seized a submarine capable of transporting tons of cocaine.

DEA officials say the diesel electric-powered submarine was constructed in a remote jungle and captured near a tributary close to the Ecuador-Colombia border. Ecuadorian authorities seized the sub before it could make its maiden voyage.

The sophisticated camouflaged vessel has a conning tower, periscope and air-conditioning system.

It measured about nine-feet-high from the deck plates to the ceiling and stretched nearly a 100 feet long. The DEA says it was built for trans-oceanic drug trafficking.

One person has been taken into custody. DEA Andean Regional Director Jay Bergman says the sub's nautical and payload capacity is a serious development.

- AP