The world of drug smuggling has just taken another daring dive — literally.
Albanian criminal networks have begun using professional divers, or “frogmen,” to secretly retrieve cocaine hidden beneath massive cargo ships.
It’s a new level of sophistication that’s leaving European authorities scrambling to keep up.
How Smugglers Are Hiding Drugs Under Cargo Ships
Traditionally, traffickers would tuck away drugs inside shipping containers and rely on smaller boats to bring them to shore.
But now, gangs are attaching waterproof packages directly to the underside of ships, a technique nicknamed “parasite smuggling.”
Instead of bribing crew members, smugglers in South America carefully unscrew metal grilles on a ship’s “sea chest” — a compartment that draws in seawater for cooling — and slip in tightly sealed drug packages.
These bundles are sometimes fitted with Apple AirTags, allowing smugglers to track them across the ocean.
When the ship reaches Europe, a team of trained divers swims to the vessel — sometimes from more than a kilometre away — and retrieves the cocaine from underwater, completely unnoticed.
The Arrest That Uncovered the Underwater Smuggling Operation
This highly technical method came to light after six Albanians — five men and one woman — were arrested in 2023 in the small Norwegian port of Husnes.
They had traveled there to meet a cargo ship arriving from Brazil, named the Nordloire.
When the ship docked, one of the smugglers dived below the waterline to recover more than 150 kilograms of cocaine that had been hidden inside a water intake vent.
The daring retrieval shocked investigators and showed just how far smuggling operations have evolved.
Inside the Dangerous Work of Europe’s Drug Divers
Italian anti-narcotics police chief Leonardo Landi, who helped bust the Husnes operation, explained how risky the work really is.
“By the time a ship is waiting to enter a European port, a team of divers returns at night using two to four electric sleds,” Landi told The Times.
“They can swim from a kilometre away, but it’s dangerous — propellers may still be turning. That’s why they get paid up to €300,000 to remove the drugs.”
These operations, he added, are increasingly run by Albanian gangs, who are now taking over much of Europe’s cocaine market.
How Albanian Gangs Took Control of Europe’s Cocaine Trade
Experts say the rise of the Albanian mafia in Europe’s drug scene stems from a strategic move made decades ago: building direct relationships with South American cartels.
By cutting out middlemen, they’ve been able to import larger amounts of cocaine at lower costs — and with tighter control.
They’ve also formed close partnerships with Italy’s powerful ‘Ndrangheta crime syndicate, known for dominating the European cocaine trade.
Albanian gangs have earned a reputation for being efficient, reliable, and ruthless, giving them an edge over rivals.
A leaked Home Office document last year even described Albanian gangs as an “acute threat” to the UK — heavily involved in organized crime, including murders, drug trafficking, and smuggling networks.
The Evolution of Underwater Drug Smuggling
Using divers isn’t the first time traffickers have turned to the ocean to move drugs undetected.
For decades, criminals have deployed custom-built submarines known as “narco-subs” to transport cocaine from South America to the United States — and now, increasingly, to Europe.
The first drug-linked submarine in Europe was found off Spain’s coast in 2006.
In 2019, police in Galicia intercepted a 65-foot-long sub that had sailed all the way from Colombia, a staggering 4,778 nautical miles across the Atlantic.
Author Peter Walsh, who wrote Drug War: The Secret History, said it’s “feasible” that similar vessels could already be operating around the UK coastline.
“I haven’t seen direct proof yet, but it’s plausible,” Walsh told the Mail.
“Using unmanned underwater drones could even eliminate the risk of losing crew — or having them turn informant if caught.”
UK Authorities Respond to the Rising Threat
A spokesperson for the Home Office said Britain remains committed to cracking down on foreign nationals involved in serious organized crime.
“When foreign nationals commit serious crimes in our country, we will always do everything in our power to deport them,” the spokesperson said.
“This government deported nearly 5,200 foreign national offenders in its first year — a 14 percent increase on the previous year — and we’ll continue working to remove these criminals from our streets.”
A Sophisticated Future for the Cocaine Trade
From frogmen diving under cargo ships to narco-subs crossing oceans, smuggling networks are getting more advanced — and more dangerous.
As Europe’s ports become the new frontlines of the drug war, authorities fear these deep-sea tactics could become the next major challenge in stopping the global cocaine trade.