The 40-foot long semi-submersible vessel was spotted by a US Navy aircraft on July 18


This is the incredible moment the US Coast Guard seized 12,000 pounds of cocaine from a homemade vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean.

One photo shows the whopping $181 million stash of narcotics lined up along the boat belonging to the US Coast Guard crew in Northern California.

It doesn't even include another 4,000 pounds of cocaine that was lost when the 40-foot long semi-submersible vessel sank as the Alameda-based crew tried to tow it back to shore during the historic bust.

Pictured are the 12,000 pounds of cocaine a Northern California crew with the US Coast Guard seized from a homemade vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean on July 18

The whopping $181 million stash of narcotics was seized from this homemade 40-foot long semi-submersible vessel

Another 4,000 pounds of cocaine was lost when the vessel sank as the Alameda-based crew tried to tow it back to shore during the historic bust

Four suspected drug smugglers from Colombia were also taken into custody, Chief Warrant Officer Allyson Conroy told KNTV.

The vessel was spotted 200 miles south of Mexico by a US Navy aircraft on July 18, but the bust was not announced until Wednesday.

The drugs were found on a semi-submersible vessel that was almost completely submerged, with just the cockpit and the exhaust pipe visible above water.

Conroy said the vessel is of the kind specifically made for drug trafficking.

'This one was painted blue, so that it would blend into the water,' she told the network. 'All that you can see from the air is the cock pit and the exhaust pipe.'

Four suspected drug smugglers from Colombia, whose names have not yet been released, were also taken into custody

The drugs were found on a semi-submersible vessel almost completely submerged, with just the cockpit and the exhaust pipe visible above water

Chief Warrant Officer Allyson Conroy said the vessel (shown here being intercepted by the crew from the Coast Guard Cutter Stratton based in Alameda, California) is of the kind specifically made for drug trafficking

'They are very difficult to see.'

The Coast Guard Cutter Stratton crew removed 275 bales of cocaine from the boat before they began to tow it, leaving 4,000 pounds inside in an attempt to balance the vessel.

That's when the boat took on water and sank, taking the drugs with it.

Conroy said the lost drugs are 'completely unrecoverable' but will not pose a threat to the environment as the barrels were well-packed with duct tape.

She added that the fact the boat sank shows how the men had put their lives at risk at trafficking.

The four men, who did not resist, have since been turned over to the Drug Enforcement Agency.

Crew members of the Cutter Stratton boarding team open the bridge of the vessel to investigate

Coast Guard footage shows officers getting the four suspects out of the vessel and onto the bow of the boat

The Coast Guard removed 275 bales of cocaine from the boat before towing it, leaving 4,000 pounds inside in an attempt to balance the vessel

Their names will not be released until they make their first appearance in federal court, US Department of Justice spokeswoman Casey Rettig said.

The Coast Guard based in Alameda has stopped a total of 15 different drug smuggling attempts since April, NBC reported.

One of the busts included another semi-submersible vessel carrying 5,460 pounds of cocaine on June 16, Conroy said.

The crew has seized more than $540million worth of cocaine since May, recovering more than 33,000 pounds of the drug.

This most recent bust was the largest amount of cocaine ever seized from a semi-submersible vessel.