Russia tried to sell a SUBMARINE to a Colombian cartel 

the fact that RU-vid has bullied it's sole money makers so far into submission that we end up having to self-censor information that poses no harm to those that watch this content is criminally insane.

Wow that's crazy

Current Swedish diesel electric subs are orders of magnitude more silent than a foxtrot.

From one cartel to another

dammit, that coastguard vessel was fitted with sonar and just pinged us. up periscope! right, no other ships nearby. launch torpedo 1! torpedo 2 away sir, engine running... torpedo 2? nooo! tell me it was torpedo 1. oh, boy! the boss is not gonna be happy....

The Rostov submarine is no longer available for sale.

Hope they bought a ton of Flex Seal

The referenced drug cartel is not pronounced "Medellon" it's "Meh-de-yeen"

When you realize what type of sub the Foxtrot was I would say the Cartel got a blessing by not getting it

Not surprised that the market for russian submersibles is pretty active these days

If the Russians did sell a sub to the Cartels, I'm pretty confident it would have been targeted by the U.S. the moment we found out about it. Using smaller subs is more practical for them.

I watched that documentary, "Operation Odessa". It's one of the craziest stories I've ever heard. Great documentary...

I have to think buying a Russian sub to smuggle drugs to the US might have not have been the best idea anyway. We know what those subs sound like and bringing one into US waters would have probably gone really badly for them.

you have to bleep out the word cocaine now?!

That would be a massive flex for a mob boss with a nuclear weapons if the cartel had chosen that route 😂

So basically one mafia group tried to sell a sub to another mafia group then?

I think it would have been harder to sneak up the coast in an old Soviet sub than the home made one.

Well done Alex. Great work from the Sandbox News team

Slight correction, the Cali Cartel did not split off (Wiki is incorrect in its wording) from the Medellin cartel. They associated and did some coordination at first before becoming harsher competitors. The Cali folks actually started off as a kidnapping ring.

Fun story Alex, right before I got out of the Navy I was stationed at the Pentagon as part of the Joint Staff Intelligence Directorate. I was on watch in the NJOIC inside the NMCC and we were right in the middle of a big interdiction campaign with SouthCom, the Coast Guard and the DEA. I was doing basic searches on google for open source info and I had come across an article from 2000 about a submarine that was being built in a mountain workshop 18 miles from Bogota. Columbian police found Russian technical manuals with said sub. I passed this to the DDI and it spiraled from there, an hour later the then Chairman Admiral Mullen was on the watch floor holding a video conference with other high ranking officials about Russia helping Narco traffickers. Pretty interesting day. It was believed that the Russian mafia was responsible for transferring the documents and If I’m not mistaken the documents were for a Kilo class sub.

Every time I hear this story I think of my relative who served as a submariner. They died before hearing this story and would have served on a sub of a similar class. I remember hearing stories about the size difference between modern subs and post WWII subs. Not everyone can make it as a sailor under the ocean. I also remember them joking around about giving the public a test run in the water. Knowing that you can say you can do it but once your under and you hear all the odd noises while diving. Some people couldn't handle it during training and that was training Imagine trying to get any regular guy to operate the sub with a limited crew who could help without panicking. To add the layer of them buying a nuke to this is just unbelievable. Talk about the ultimate arms dealing. Wow! I regret not touring a sub years ago when I had the chance. Being too frugal and semi claustrophobic made me pass. But it definitely would have been a hell of a conversation to talk about later.

Comparing a Foxtrot to the Gottlanand isn't exactly a fair comparison...

To be fair, the Swedish submarine in question (Gotland class) has Air Independent Propulsion, which is a highly-efficient Stirling engine, running on diesel fuel and cryogenic liquid oxygen. It's able to stay submerged, and haul a**, for over a week at a time. Most diesel-electric subs have limited battery capacity; they can stay submerged for a while but they can't go very fast while doing so.

Just for your information, Medellin is pronounced "meh-de-jeen" but most Americans would say it "meh-de-yeen"

6:40 when he said "med-el-lin cartel" he's talking about the Medellin cartel😂 Pronounced 'med-eh-ying' In case anybody else was like "what the f*** is he talking about"😂😂

Listening to this, I couldn’t help thinking of the 1966 Batman movie…the scene when Batman discovers from Admiral Fangschleister that the Navy recently sold a surplus pre-atomic sub to a Mr P.N.Guin!

It's not like there's a shortage of ex-submarine sailors out there from whatever flag willing to crew these things for a handsome fee.

Pretty sure the Swedish sub had some Sterling engines. Diesel probably heated a reservoir before the games started then shut it off and ran the sterling. Can't rightly remember since it was at least 2 years ago, maybe 4.

Diesel submarines stopped surfacing to recharge batteries during WWII. Snorkeling or “snorting” is now accomplished while shallow at periscope or snorkel depth. The most modern submarines can even recharge batteries while entirely submerged while using a variety or emerging technology lumped under the title or AIP.

The 80's were a magical time. 😉

I thought the swedish sub that sank our air carrier in war games was a liquid oxygen sterling engine.

It’s sad that a video on a story like this has to bleep out the cargo to keep RU-vid happy 😂

gotta just love this channel . . . Alex is by far the best. this video is far out..

Why beep the word "cocaine"? It is not a secret. I lived in Fort Lauderdale back them and cocaine was everywhere including the occasional beach wash up, though marijuana wash up were more frequent.

Is there anything more terrifying than finding out you were on a Russian warship or submarine. The probability of a tragedy occurring increases exponentially. Missles or no missles? Lol

This could have been the plot for "Lord of War" or a sequel movie or spin-off TV/streaming series.

If… the cartel could deliver two $50M USD loads it’d be worth it. However you’d need experienced submariners to pull it off. Otherwise it’s a death trap. A third trip would be a bad idea because the US government would know. And hunt it down

What I think is pretty disturbing are those fucking beeps. Sandboxx I LOVE you but that got me twice in a row. Thought we had a nuclear alert or something.

The Idea that they offered him a Nuke is actually a bit terrifying considering the sheer amount of weapons the soviets had when the union collapsed, and lthe level of corruption that still exists there.

Seapower!

- Hey, Russia, what are you sellin'? - Da.

Alex you gotta pronounce Medellin right. Lol it’s mede-een.

I've been waiting for SEAPOWER! Keep it up Alex and Team.

I knew Tarzan, he was a tech client.😅

Scary to think cartels with real subs. HOWEVER, Would love to see cartels trying to maintain an ancient submarine!

It's pretty disturbing that mental health initiatives in the military are being politicized. The mental strength of servicemembers, worked on by the best military psychologists in the world, is probably the US military's greatest asset.

Lol that 2005 war games scenario is basically the movie Down Periscope!

Medellin is not Medelin, it's MED-ay-(Y)EEN

Medellín , med'ah'yeen

Just how would they have crewed the thing? They would need trained crew from the Russians.

Me di yean cartel. Lolol almost said it the right way lol

He pronounced the Ls in MedellIn cartel cmon

Why do they need a sub?the border is wide open

They are submersibles not submarines

Vanilla Ice is the Russian tie to Trump!? Vanilla Ice has been the entertainment at Maralago 2-3 times the last few years, and maybe longer! Oh you better dig on that one Alex!

Nice bit of history few know about. However *WHITE STUFF* is not near as good as Jeremy Clarkson's "Agricultural Products".

THEY SOLD THEM THE MOSCOVA????

Ronald Reagan did NOT cause the USSR to spend themselves to ruin. They had the same problem they do now which is limited production that brings in revenue, and their main source of revenue was oil, as it is now. The 70s saw a big jump in oil prices. The 80s saw a collapse in oil prices. The 1970s, when the USSR started to be big spenders was when oil prices went crazy giving the USSR LOTS of money to play with. They did the same mistake many oil nations do (where oil is a main source of govt. revenue), they didn't diversify their economy. Yes they had their military industrial complex, but that's where the oil money was going. So, yeah sure, keeping up with the Jones has SOMETHING to do with the financial collapse of the USSR, but it was a rare person who saw into the future, and it looked like the bottom falling on oil prices.

Medellin Cartel (Med-eh-yeen)

10:31 you left one c word in.

Those rusty old Foxtrots were so noisy all you had to do was open the main cabin door and just listen for it. Saves buoys.

Oh boy, those Russians. Some oligarch was rubbing his hands together, thinking of his yacht and mansion upgrades…and mistress’ upgrades. Edit: Whaaaat? “With missiles or without?”

If you read Gulag Archipelago, if you were in the right spot and wanted to survive, you got creative with the books, period. So it’s not THAT surprising to me.

i would think the Chinese would be building smuggling subs to sell to the cartels by now. harbor freight probably has them on sale. 29.95 BOGO

So this was the whole story of the "memoirs of a Columbian drug lord" I thought the deal fell through because they chickened out at the nuclear warhead offer. I mean it's 2024 and a Yakuza had plutonium so I guess anything is possible.

It's a fun story but, c'mon Alex, you know that Swedish sub was decades ahead technologically of the Russian diesel sub in question. You said it yourself it was built in the 50's. Nowhere near as quiet as the Swedish sub you spoke of.

My dude, we need to talk. I mean you're pretty white, but I'm pretty sure as a Canadian, in the dead of winter, I'm whiter. And even I know how to pronounce "Medellín" 🤣😂🤣😂

“two hundred dollars…and…that was ENOUGH. (Lowkey abject incredulity)” Love it.

Buying a Russian submarine was a crazy idea, but that guy deciding that stealing $10 million from a drug cartel was a good idea was bonkers! Amazingly, he didn't end up in a batch of canned dog food.

If you're talking about this, you could talk about the time NORINCO tried to sell APCs to street gangs in Oakland.

I only see this plan working if the US had no idea about it. But when they found out a sub is making trips to Miami there would be an attack sub and a P3 flights from Key West. They'd find the thing inside of a few days if not hours. The problem is that for a "civilian" sub the Foxtrot class is advanced but by that time in terms of military tech it was completely obsolete

Oh, so THAT'S why we have so many Vlad Putin's fans in this country! It finally makes sense.

The documentary Operation Odyssey is all about this event. Its absolutely insane. I highly recommend watching it.

More trusted than Chinese Submarines... Ah, ouch... Trust is simply to strong a word... At least a Russian sub has a metal shell!

A cartel's purchase of a Russian sub would be utterly useless without a well trained Russian crew operating it, as well as a team of Russian maintenance personnel to keep it operational. Plus, given how close the sub would need to get to U.S. shores, it's likely the sub would be detected and then be depth charged, forcing it to surface or be sunk in shallow waters. That would be a total cluster f**k if the U.S. captured or sank a Russian sub well inside U.S. territorial waters, only to have Russia deny it was theirs, and was delivering fentanyl.

Semi-submersible. Not a sub. The narco stuff can't dive. It's a turretless monitor, a ship always tied to the surface for air.

Ludwig Feinberg cannot possibly be a Russian, he can only be a Jew. The fact that he had Russian citizenship is another question.

What, you can’t say COCAINE on YT? It’s getting increasingly ridiculous.

2:01 The SU was never superior to the US. What was not known at the time is that most of these technologies were spoils of war from Germany. Moreover, the SU retained a warring mentality, and also developed these technologies inexpensively compared to the US. The SU also stole US nuclear secrets, and the rest is history.

My dad watched Porkys with me and my brothers when we were like 12 & 14! An absolutely legendary movie!

Medellin [meh-dee-yeen] Diesel, electric submarines, ships, trains, Prius… They are all “hybrids”

At the start of the video, you talk about the guy pounding on the hatch of a partially submerged submarine. It's important to note that, actually, most narco subs are not true submarines -- they're not capable of diving and are actually just boats that sail mostly submerged, for stealth. So, yes, that man is The Man, but it's not like the submarine is going to dive under him. That's as low in the water as it goes. He's still a total badass, but not as total as it looks.

with missiles or without missiles? I suppose he meant torpedoes. I supposed a modified torpedo could be used to land the goods the jailbroken phone really meant DEA paid for the international calls?

Sooo what was it like for the average Russian when the Soviet Union collapsed? Because America looks like it’s going to collapse in the next couple decades so really want to be prepared

As soon as I heard his pronunciation of Medellin, I paused the video and came to the comments to see what people were saying. I was not disappointed. (I'm a white guy that grew up in Jersey and not a native Spanish speaker)

The Hunt for Red October meets Clear and Present Danger. Clancy would have gotten a kick out of that.

Submarines are one of the hardest vehicles to operate safely. Assuming the Colombian Cartels manage to crew the sub they would most likely experience a fatal accident on sailing the sub in their first smuggling attempt. Subs are dangerous on a good day and death traps when one of hundreds of accident scenarios play out.

Love it. I would have been 20 and that was at the height of the cocaine wars. Wow, if that guy had not hidden the cash and left the Cali Cartel would have moved so much coke and heroin every street corner in the US would have had a dealer on it. In this instance I am happy to say "Greed is Good."

meh...deh..jean, try pronouncing like that :) great stuff as always, keep it up

Tried? They did sell pepsi like 1/3 of there fleet (in numbers not tonage) for something like 17 butteling plant... Worth saying that pepsi built over 50 buttle plants in ussr during the cold war. One of those ships. A wiskey class submarine ended up in a amusment park close to where i live on a few rocks... Wiskey on the rocks... well.. i would guess.. part 2 Gotland sub is not a diesel electric but a air independant stirling electric sub. Unlike most diesel subs that typically can do 10-15 knots under water and only for sonething like a hour or two. Gotland can do over 20 knots and can stay under water for weeks. This is something totaly diffrent than a diesel sub

You can’t say COCAINE on RU-vid now? WTF?

Well... yes, Didn't Space X start with 2 ICBMs from Russia?

I don’t even speak Spanish and I cringed at some of the pronunciations - especially Medellín

Soy colombiano y estoy en contra del narcotrafico, pero los sofisticados submarinos de los carteles latinoamericanos, pueden ser la mejor solución a los problemas de logística del ejercito estadounidense en la región del indopacifico.

9:56 i thought that swedish sub had a Stirling cycle engine though, no? Not the same as the ones the ruskies use, which was more conventional? I could be way off base there.

They would have gotten depth charged near usa anyway after no response especially during these times lol or maybe not because biden would let them in lol😂😂😂

Can we take a minute to appreciate the fact that this Russian mobster paid to have a bunch of professional pictures taken of him posing like a Calvin Klein model?? lmao

Please, PLEASE, don’t ever pronounce Medellin like that….

Russian translation error traded them a submarine full of Coke for a plane load of Pepsi. “Wut this?”

How were they going to get a crew?? Also, guaranteed that the Russians would sell them a junker with deferred maintenance