Ted Poe: “I want to bring to the House's attention a new innovative idea to import drugs into the United States. The drug cartels…”

“I want to bring to the House's attention a new innovative idea to import drugs into the United States. The drug cartels in South America, specifically in Colombia, continue to figure out ways to import cocaine at a profit into our country. Now they are doing it by sea, and they are using submarines that they make in the jungles where they make the cocaine that they bring into the United States. I have here, Mr. Speaker, a photograph of a submarine. This photograph was taken by the United States Coast Guard as they were on patrol off the coast of Colombia with the United States Navy. This submarine is made out of fiberglass. It is about 100 feet long and it carries approximately $300 million worth of cocaine. It has a crew of five. It is made in such a way that when intercepted by the United States Navy or the United States Coast Guard, they are able to pull certain levers and valves on this submarine and it is junked in the Gulf of Mexico or off the coast of Colombia. They scuttle these ships, because what happens is when they scuttle them, the five man crew jumps off the boat into a lifeboat, and then our United States Navy has to rescue them and save them, but they can't prosecute them for importation of drugs into the United States. These submarines cost the drug cartels about $1 million apiece to manufacture.”