Stunning video has been released showing U.S. Coast Guard vessels chasing a narco-submarine laden with tons of pounds of cocaine barreling through choppy waves in the Pacific Ocean.
Sailors can be seen jumping on the semi-submersible and pounding on the hatch before it is forced open and a man's hands emerge.
The homemade submarines are a staple of drug cartels ferrying their illegal product into the United States. They are hard to detect, and many elude drug enforcement efforts.
The recently released footage shows two small Coast Guard boats, with a helicopter hovering overhead, deployed by the Cutter Munro in international waters off Colombia and Ecuador.
The Guardsman wore helmet cameras and one is heard screaming in Spanish for the narco-sub to stop. Three Guardsman are seen jumping aboard the 40-foot sub. The video ends with the suspect's hands emerging from the hatch.
There was more than 17,000 pounds of cocaine inside, The Washington Post reported.
The contraband was part of a haul representing 14 separate raids to be offloaded at a Thursday San Diego event with Vice President Mike Pence. The seized drugs are worth a combined street value of $569 million from raids off the coasts of Mexico, South America and Central America.
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