I remember seeing a TV program about the drug subs about a year ago, a few fully submersible subs have been built, they are crude but steadily improving, and surplus Russian sub related hardware has been captured at some build sites. The speculation is that some ex Russian naval folks have been spending their retirement in the tropics, and have been sharing their hobby with the locals for fun and profit. 
From two years ago: http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2061934,00.html
The subs are also a testament to the ingenuity of traffickers working at secluded dry docks deep inside the equatorial jungle. "Pictures do not do them justice," says Bergman. "You have to see the subs to get a perspective of how large they are and how much effort it takes to build them." The 70-footer captured in February, for example, is a fascinating hybrid of high and low technology. It sports a large conning tower (the platform atop a sub) with night-vision cameras. The stern holds a 346-horsepower diesel engine and tanks that can hold 1,700 gallons of fuel — enough for the two-week run to cocaine drop-off points near Mexico and Central America. Inside are compressed-air tanks for ballast, bunk beds, GPS equipment and touchscreen controls. It can cut its engine and dive down some 30 ft. (9 m) to hide from interdiction boats and aircraft. Yet the sub is just as clearly artisanal. Its hull and tubing were fashioned from materials you can buy at Home Depot: fiberglass, wood and polyvinyl chloride. Colombian navy Lieutenant Fernando Monroy, a submariner who piloted the confiscated drug sub to the Pacific coast navy base at Bahia Malaga, says poor ventilation pushed up the temperature inside to 100°F (38°C), making it hard to breathe. [....] Submarines are invisible to radar, so hunting them requires sonar to identify their underwater sounds or magnetic anomaly detectors, since conventional subs are basically huge masses of steel that can cause deviations in the earth's magnetic fields. But the Pacific is vast and the two impounded drug subs are small and fiberglass, and contain relatively little steel.
Silent Runner This submarine constructed by narco-traffickers in the mangrove swamps of the Colombian Pacific coast was found by the Naval Infantry on February 12 near Timbuiqui. Made with three-centimeter-thick fiberglass, the submarine has a 346-horse power engine, space for a crew of four, a range of about 900 miles and the capacity to transport 8 tons of cocaine.
Nothing new. This is the "Trumpy semi-submersible skiff" That was built for the CIA back in the early 50s and only came in out of the cold in 2007 
19 1/2 feet long, it could run sem-submerged for up to 50 miles (out and return range of 110 miles) in moderate to rough waters while carrying an operator, two passengers, and 120 pounds of equipment. Once on site, it could be anchored and "Sunk" to the bottom with the engine compartment sealed. The two that are known to have been built are among the very few wooden submarines known to have been built
The problem with USN passive sonar is that it runs on computers. And you know what the problem with computers is, right? GIGO. They're programmed to look for sounds within certain frequencies, usually associated with known opposition subs like Kilo class, etc. As far as I know the USN hasn't tailed the narco subs to get recordings of their acoustic signature. As they appear to be "custom built" I'm guessing no two are the exactly the same. Active sonar telegraphs where the US sub is so they don't do that. I'm guessing it might reflect off the narco sub, but per previous responses won't get a good reflection due to the non-steel hull of the narco sub. It's a tougher nut to crack that what you'd think. I'm guessing that a patrol plane with a FLIR looking for heat signature of the narco boat's exhaust would be the most effective means of finding them, but that's a lot of ocean to search.
In reply to stroker: I suspect part of the problem is also that they are probably running them off from standard marine engines and running them shallow, so the acoustic signature probably isn't a whole lot different than the average small craft. That and the fact that there probably isn't enough metal in them for MAD gear to pick them up makes the whole detection problem pretty challenging. Even if you find them, I'm guessing the rules of engagement don't allow for anything other than waiting for them to surface and intercepting them. Its kind of too bad, because I'm guessing even WWII vintage depth charges would be pretty effective on a fiberglass hull.
kazoospec wrote: Its kind of too bad, because I'm guessing even WWII vintage depth charges would be pretty effective on a fiberglass hull.
Which is why I'd pack them full of innocent human trafficking victims too. It solves the risky load/unloading issues and prevents torpedoing. Since I'm also a fabulously wealthy lord - I'd make sure 90% of them were empty both ways to make it a needle in a haystack problem.
It's hard to speculate or confirm anything unless you are right in the action isn't it?
I do remember seeing something on Discovery or National Geo about these a while back. From my research I know most of them are only semi submersible with the capability to go fully underwater for short periods of time.
The war on drugs does baffle me because I feel it's one that will never be won. Especially when homeboy down the street can learn how to grow a plant with hydroponics in his closet without his parents even noticing.
If these things prove anything its that people are pretty ingenious and willing to take risks when the profit margins are high enough. Its kind of the same thing with the drug tunnels under the Mexican border. If you can make millions from a product you can produce for thousands, you can afford to spend a bit on "shipping".
Or his parents can.
The GRSS (Grassroots Semisubmersibles) Model T-powered version:
slantvaliant wrote: The GRSS (Grassroots Semisubmersibles) Model T-powered version:
Still in use by the GRM TAT. Tactical Anti-Canoe Team.
The son of a business associate built his own sub from spare parts:
Kinda makes that Lego sub I made at his age look pretty lame.
N Sperlo wrote:slantvaliant wrote: The GRSS (Grassroots Semisubmersibles) Model T-powered version:Still in use by the GRM TAT. Tactical Anti-Canoe Team.
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