As the first "narco-sub" to transport cocaine from South America to Europe approaches, I'm going to board it. It is 20 meters (65 feet) long, composed of fiberglass, and surprisingly, it was manufactured by hand.

Climbing to the top, I raise the crooked manhole cover and enter the hull of the ship, where three men spent 27 exhausting days and nights submerged beneath the waves of the Atlantic Ocean. It's really rustic, crowded, and small.

Through tiny cracks in the walls, the daylight tries to enter. A corroded key that is still stuck in the ignition, a steering wheel, and a few basic dials are all that are present.

You can see why a potential skipper thought the boat was a death trap after taking one glance at it. The 20,000 liters of fuel that were carried onboard by the sub's engine would have caused extreme heat and noise.

The group, which included a former Spanish boxer and two Ecuadorean relatives, left the Brazilian rain forest and first traveled down the Amazon river. They had sardine cans, energy bars, and plastic bags that they used as restrooms.

They essentially had nothing else. Besides the three tons of cocaine, which are valued more than $150 million (£121 million). However, this wasn't a profitable clandestine mission that was successfully completed.

However, this wasn't a profitable clandestine mission that was successfully completed. Several law enforcement organizations, notably the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA), had been following the sub's route as of late 2019.

The men encountered difficulties and scuttled their boat close to the Galician shore before being apprehended and imprisoned. This historical moment in the struggle against global drug trafficking is currently displayed as a trophy in the parking lot of the Spanish police academy in Vila.

It is a sign of an unnoticed phenomena, not a decaying artifact from a long-ago conflict. Another submarine, this time in the Galicia region, was just last month found off the Spanish coast.

These two are the first submarines we have confiscated, according to Antonio Martinez Duarte, Chief Commissioner of the Narco Brigade in the Spanish National Police. "Traffickers have been using submarines to reach Africa and Europe for more than 20 years," he adds.

He acknowledges, "They are really difficult to identify.

In fact, it's believed that hundreds of handmade submarines have been launched toward Europe, which is the second-largest market for cocaine after the US and is expanding quickly following a Covid pandemic collapse.

There are also rumors that there is a gigantic graveyard of cocaine submarines in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, near the Canary Islands and the Azores, that were purposefully sunk once their cargo had been successfully unloaded.

The police in Madrid are celebrating a significant victory in the global trafficking war as they announce the discovery of the biggest lab that has ever been found in Europe turning raw coca paste into cocaine. The lab was found in an industrial unit in Toledo, southern Spain. The operation has also confirmed the links between Colombian and Mexican criminals that have joined Spanish gangs working in Spain. The police officers have transported the contents of the lab into a press conference room to show local journalists. The stench of the raw coca paste fills the air, and the process of turning the paste into cocaine is replicated with barrels of chemicals, a microwave, a hydraulic press, and scales. In the room are also dozens of brown parcels, each with a Superman logo, the symbol chosen by the traffickers.

According to an officer, importers pay between €27-32,000 ($30-35,000; £24-28,000) for each parcel of cocaine, which they then sell on the streets for at least double the price. The profits of these importers are limited only by the amount of cutting agents they use to dilute the drug. Cutting agents can range from anesthesia to cheaper options such as caffeine and glucose, with other options including de-worming medicine normally used by vets.

The lab found in the city of Pontevedra in the Galicia region of Spain was capable of producing 200 kilos of cocaine per day with a purity of 95%, according to police. This lab, along with the previously mentioned narco-submarines, provides a glimpse into the expanding world of narco-trafficking.

The United Nations drug agency reported that cocaine production increased by a third between 2020 and 2021, which was a record high and the biggest year-to-year increase since 2016.

The port of Antwerp in Belgium has seen a surge in the supply of cocaine. In 2022, they seized a record 110 tonnes of the drug, but it's estimated that only 10% of cocaine arriving at the port is intercepted, with the rest going to the Netherlands for distribution across Europe. The head of customs at the port believes that they will never win the battle against the drug trade. The fight against cocaine trafficking has resulted in violence on the streets of Antwerp, including the death of an 11-year-old girl in a gang shooting linked to the trade. Belgium's Justice Minister, Vincent Van Quickenborne, has been living in and out of a safe house after police uncovered an alleged plot by Dutch criminals to kidnap him. For investigative judge Michel Claise, the cocaine industry has spiralled out of control.

Michel Claise, one of Belgium's top investigative judges, says that the cocaine industry has spiraled out of control, with criminal organizations making an absolute fortune through money laundering and corruption, which allows them to offer unlimited sums to dockers, police officers, and others.

The gangs are now so wealthy and influential that they are dwarfing those seeking to deliver justice. The UN warns that the Belgium cocaine crisis is now Europe's cocaine crisis, and rival international gangs are working together like never before.

The gangs are expanding their operations into Asia and Africa in pursuit of unlimited riches. The UN report highlights that cocaine production has increased by a third between 2020 and 2021, with the biggest year-to-year increase since 2016.

In Antwerp, a record 110 tonnes of cocaine were seized in 2022, and estimates suggest that only 10% of the cocaine arriving at the port is intercepted. The excess supply has led to an increase in gang violence, with an 11-year-old girl killed in a gang shooting linked to the cocaine trade in Antwerp in January.

Belgium's Justice minister, Vincent Van Quickenborne, has been living in and out of a safe house for the past year after police uncovered an alleged plot by Dutch criminals to kidnap him. A car containing firearms was discovered outside his house. The cocaine industry is out of control, and criminal organizations are becoming increasingly powerful, which poses a significant threat to the safety and security of communities worldwide.