A couple of ex-CIA operatives are claiming that they have found the infamous "narco-submarine" used by Pablo Escobar's Medellin Cartel to smuggle cocaine during the 1980's and 1990's. Doug Laux and Ben Smith shot video for Discovery UK to document their expedition to find the sunken vessel.
In the video, the two appear to have found a metallic box, but it is unclear if the box was indeed from the submarine.
While it is unclear what exactly is the origin of the box, the two men declare that shifting sea beds and hurricanes may have dispersed some of the wreckage over the years.
They are looking along the Caribbean coast off of Colombia, going on a tip they received.
Richest drug lord ever
Pablo Escobar is known for being the wealthiest drug trafficker of all-time. At the height of his reign, Pablo was almost able to leverage his vast wealth into a seat in the Colombian Parliament. Even when authorities tried to imprison him, Pablo got them to allow him to design his own prison. "La Cathedral" was a sprawling prison complex in the Colombian jungle that was run by Pablo's cartel. He even had a full soccer pitch on the grounds and he would fly in professional teams and players to play with him.
When it came to business, he was known to give opponents two choices, "plata o plomo," which translates to "silver or lead." The way Pablo saw it, if you did not accept his offer of a bribe, then you can expect to receive lead in the form of gunfire from an assassin.
This sadistic offer led to many accepting whatever Pablo offered, though there were plenty who refused and wound up dead. This went for civilians, police officers and even government officials. If you weren't with him, you were against him. One horrific attack saw members of Pablo's cartel throw grenades into police barracks, killing scores of officers.
Pablo's cocaine business was so massive that he landed on the Forbes Magazine list of wealthiest people, coming in at number seven. At the height of his empire, the cartel was making around $22 billion per year. So much money was coming in that they started burying it throughout the country. The budget just for rubber bands to hold together the incoming cash was in the thousands per month.
There will never be another drug kingpin like Pablo Escobar. He was revered in his homeland as a sort of robin hood to the people in the community. The goodwill he bought, however, eventually turned sour when he was found responsible for the downing of a civilian aircraft during his feud with the government.