The vessel, which is nine meters long, three wide and three deep (30 x 10 x 10 feet), was found in a warehouse in Malaga, southern Spain, according to a statement from the Spanish national police published Friday. He was discovered during an operation against a sophisticated drug smuggling ring that resulted in 52 arrests, the force said.
Semi-submersibles are difficult to detect, but they are expensive to build. They have been used for a long time by drug traffickers working in Latin America, but are believed to be much less common in Europe.
It consists of a plywood and fiberglass structure built around an existing keel and has two 200-horsepower outboard engines operated using a control panel inside the cabin, according to the police.
Rafael Pérez, commissioner of the Spanish Judiciary Police, said that the works were in progress when the vessel was seized and had never been tested in the water.
Speaking at a news conference, Peréz said he believed the ship would have been used to sail to meet a mother ship carrying drugs at sea.
The semi-submersible was found during a long-term investigation involving cooperation with security forces in Colombia, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, the United States and Portugal, according to the press release.
More than 300 Spanish police officers carried out 47 searches along the country’s Mediterranean coast.
Researchers have discovered a number of properties linked to drug trafficking, including a “sophisticated underground laboratory” in the Barcelona region with the capacity to extract and process up to 750 kilograms (1,653 pounds) of cocaine per month, in addition to 12,000 liters of chemical precursors.
In February, police arrested one of the main suspects at Barcelona’s El Prat airport when he was about to board a flight to the Netherlands.
Thirty of the prisoners are currently in custody, awaiting trial.
During the investigation, Spanish police also seized a 15-meter fiberglass boat, 400 kg (882 pounds) of cocaine, 700 kg (1,543 pounds) of hashish and more than 100,000 euros ($ 119,280) in cash.
In January, Spanish police seized more than two tons of cocaine and arrested 12 people allegedly involved in a large-scale drug smuggling network with connections to Paraguay and Brazil.
Authorities investigated the network – members of which tried to cover their tracks by opening legitimate companies – for more than a year, according to a statement from Spain’s national police.