It can simultaneously be true that smuggling is performed by people deemed expendable, and that the kingpins behind them might purchase an extravagant vessel made for partying if they think it will improve the rate at which they successfully smuggle their illegal goods.

If you bring a submarine to market, intelligence agencies and smugglers will absolutely be interested in it.

That said, this is a submersible. If I understand correctly, that means it doesn't operate independently, but in tandem with a conventional vessel. So that may be far less useful.

Most of the ocean is dull and there is no much of a point in partying in the darkness of the oceanic waters.

I read that a typical load in a narcosub was worth about 100 million dollars and a narcosub itself costs 2 million dollars. Two narcotrips will not only pay for the submarine but also make a huge profit, your idea that smuggling is for those low on the totem pole and that it has to be dangerous is something that you invented.

The boats they use for this smuggling are the least seaworthy vessels I think I’ve had the pleasure to experience. We caught one go-fast because all four engines died and it was sinking, so they radioed for our help since we were already chasing them. These were very unsafe boats. The dudes onboard are not very important, their qualifications were they had been fishermen before and had families to hold over them to ensure the drugs got to the destination.

Do you work in the Coast Guard?

I think that the future for the drug smuggling is computer controlled submarines, and I'm not even talking about AI. I think drug producers will pre-program a route for a submarine that will autonomously navigate until the destination where it will be picked by a receptor.

I read that it's extremely hard to spot submarines, I can only imagine the kind of things that will be smuggled once there are functional submarines of the size of a big fish.

Navy, we were technically under coast guard command during interdictions though. It was also ten years ago or more so they’ve probably upped their game by now on both sides.

I don’t know about automated subs though, as three guys in a shitty boat can’t really be beat on price. An automated boat would be easier to catch if it was spotted but I suppose you could also put some trap on it to sink it fast when it’s boarded. We were only able to capture one semi submersible because they are very easy to scuttle.