Narco-sub carrying 1.7 tonnes of cocaine seized in Atlantic | Hacker News Reader

Narco-sub carrying 1.7 tonnes of cocaine seized in Atlantic

bbc.com

53 pointstartoran36 comments

By Portuguese authorities, not US.

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

> 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

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

war is extrajudicial

America isn't at war.

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.

So? We hated it then and we hate it now.

I love me a good Tu Quoque defense. Keep em coming! I can't remember if we supported him cuz he wasn't the war candidate or we supported him cuz he was or if it even matters and we just make up bullshit excuses for what suits us at the time with whatever is convenient for the given argument...

They surely need circus for the plebeians. /s

Tell that to the thousands of parents that lose a kid each year. This trash has to stop making it into the US.

Everyone talks about stopping drugs entering the border but no one talks about dismantling the extremely efficient logistic network that makes those drugs available in every corner of each major city.

I guess it’s easier to blow up random boats in the pacific than prosecuting corrupt officials but is it effective?

Why not do both?

Because it's un-American and murder to kill criminal suspects instead of trying them in a court of law.

I would say it's as American as it gets, and in this case justified as well. Do you not know America's history..? Even recent one? Obama ordered drone strikes in foreign countries as well.

We know it’s not justified because they aren’t enemy combatants.

What is the difference between this and sending hellfire missiles on Afghanis based on cell phone data, during the Obama administration?

One is illegal.

Losing a kid doesn't mean America is at war?

To cocaine? By "lose a kid" I assume you mean death and not some euphemism for addiction.

As fucked up as the situation is, they were warned that they would be blown up if they tried it.

Giving warning you are going to violate international law doesn't make it any less illegal or immoral.

What do you think about Obama killing an *American citizen* via drone extrajudicially?

That's how you differentiate old empires from the curent ones: they are tired of all this killing.

What do you think about Obama killing an American citizen via drone extrajudicially?

Why does that matter? Does that excuse or justify these extrajudicial killings (murders?) in any way?

We don't know if the Trump admin is killing American citizens in these. They don't know who they are killing either. Maybe the first step to pointing a weapon is knowing who you are pointing it at.

It was an unforgivable crime, obviously. Much like these war crimes.

Whataboutism isn't a good argument.

"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

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.

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...

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

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.

Wow, that Island looks beautiful! Hadn't heard of Azores before, photos of it make me want to visit. :)

https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=6302e02a0ef1fe43&sxsrf...

The photos are heavily photoshopped. But the island is still very beautiful.

I visited in person several years back and was astonished - the grass really was that shade of lime green.

Don't miss Sete Cidades: the cluster of small towns inside the caldera of an extinct volcano. Gorgeous.

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