kamikazeturtles 11 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 9 hours ago

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

    • tommica 5 hours ago

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

    • [removed] 8 hours ago
      [deleted]
    • hulitu 4 hours ago

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

[removed] 11 hours ago
[deleted]
_--__--__ 11 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 10 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.