WATCH: US Coast Guard Boards Coke-Filled Submarine to Bust Smugglers After Insane High-Seas Chase

Newly released footage from the Defense Department shows U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Munro crew members in an absurd high-speed chase with a semi-submersible vessel carrying thousands of pounds of cocaine.

A Coast Guard spokesman said that they had seized more than 17,000 pounds of cocaine found on board the vessel, worth $232 million, according to ABC News.

Two boats were pursuing the sub hundreds of kilometers off the Colombian and Ecuadorian coasts. One crew member shot the footage on a helmet cam while shouting, “Stop your boat now!” in Spanish. A crew member shouted, “That’s gonna be hard to get on,” just as the boat pulled up aside the vessel and another crew member jumped ship onto the top of the vessel just barely brushing the surface.

The crew member banged on the hatch repeatedly and attempted to pry it open. The hatch flew open to reveal the smugglers, arms up over their head to beg for mercy.

The vessel was sunk and the alleged smugglers were detained to await prosecution. Lieutenant Commander Stephen Brickey told ABC News that this Pacific region the Coast Guard monitors is roughly the size of the entire continental US, adding that their mission was a lot like two police cars patrolling the entire country. He said that Coast Guard patrol encounters a narco sub about once a year.

The Cutter Munro’s efforts were part of a larger push by the U.S. to prevent drug trafficking in South and Central America.

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