Portugal's Judicial Police (PJ) and Navy, with the collaboration of the United Kingdom and the United States, have intercepted a narco-submarine in the Atlantic Ocean in recent days. The vessel was transporting over 1.7 tons of cocaine bound for the Iberian Peninsula, the PJ announced in a statement on Monday. The semi-submersible carried four crew members along with the drugs, which were ultimately destined for several European countries, Portuguese authorities said, without specifying the vessel's origin. The operation, named 'El Dorado', also involved the Portuguese Air Force, as well as the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) and the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Joint Interagency Task Force South (JIATF South). The investigation was made possible by information from the Maritime Analysis and Operations Centre – Narcotics (MAOC-N), based in Lisbon and composed of eight EU member states — Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, and Portugal — to cooperate in the fight against drug trafficking by sea and air.
