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Cocaine Sub Hunters: Series

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COCAINE SUB HUNTERS: SERIES

  • Executive Producers: Steve Hoggard, Daphna Rubin, David Hill

Follow DEA agents on their quest to track down and bust narco-submarines in one of the most violent places in Colombia: the Pacific coastal region of Tumaco.

Our investigation takes us onto the streets and into the mangrove swamps with joint team of DEA Special Agents and Colombian commandos.

We’ll meet a drug sub informant who ventures out to mark a sub site for capture – and subsequently goes missing. And travel to a clandestine meeting with one of the very first drug sub inventors; an engineer hired by Pablo Escobar now in hiding, he shares his original “test” footage of the very first cocaine submarine prototype ever built.

Later, we venture out with a DEA interdiction team as they seize several ‘semi-subs’ for clues to their makers.

And by program’s end, our cameras are there when DEA and Colombian Marines bag the biggest prey of all – the first fully submersible cocaine submarine ever seized in Colombia!

PROJECT SLIDESHOW
Hoggard cameraman Carlos Hernandez floats up to the first fully submersible drug sub DEA has ever captured in Colombia.

Hoggard cameraman Carlos Hernandez floats up to the first fully submersible drug sub DEA has ever captured in Colombia.

On this early model, 'mad max' semi-sub, three funnels direct diesel exhaust down toward the water, thereby reducing the sub's heat signature to law enforcement planes in the skies above. It could carry about 5 tons of cocaine worth over $100 millio

On this early model, 'mad max' semi-sub, three funnels direct diesel exhaust down toward the water, thereby reducing the sub's heat signature to law enforcement planes in the skies above. It could carry about 5 tons of cocaine worth over $100 million dollars.

When USCG choppers mounted with .50 caliber sniper rifles began knocking out cocaine 'Go Fast' speedboats skimming the surface of the water, narco-traffickers needed to find a better way...

When USCG choppers mounted with .50 caliber sniper rifles began knocking out cocaine 'Go Fast' speedboats skimming the surface of the water, narco-traffickers needed to find a better way...

DEA sub hunter 'Tony' prepares to enter a seized cocaine sub. Evidence from the Italian tractor-trailer engine inside could help lead to the builder.

DEA sub hunter 'Tony' prepares to enter a seized cocaine sub. Evidence from the Italian tractor-trailer engine inside could help lead to the builder.

The first cocaine subs couldn't really submerge. They were chopped down boat hulls, sealed overhead with water-proofed materials and weighted down into the sea so just their 'pilot' house sat above surface...

The first cocaine subs couldn't really submerge. They were chopped down boat hulls, sealed overhead with water-proofed materials and weighted down into the sea so just their 'pilot' house sat above surface...

The city of Medellin remains a major hub for cocaine traffickers moving product north.

The city of Medellin remains a major hub for cocaine traffickers moving product north.