Editor 's note : The staff at CNN.com has recently been intrigued by the journalism of VICE , an independent media company and Web site based in Brooklyn , New York . VBS.TV is Vice 's broadband television network . The reports , which are produced solely by VICE , reflect a very transparent approach to journalism , where viewers are taken along on every step of the reporting process . We believe this unique reporting approach is worthy of sharing with our CNN.com readers . Brooklyn , New York ( VBS.TV/MOTHERBOARD.TV ) -- Military checkpoints line the long and winding road from the airport in Cali , Colombia , to the coastal city of Buenaventura . These are expected sights in the long-running conflict we know as the `` war on drugs . '' Plan Colombia , legislation passed during the Clinton administration , provided billions in military aid to Colombia to help halt the cultivation and transport of cocaine . It has had only mixed success . Buenaventura , a strategic port city and maritime gateway to Central and North America , is a haven for the newest clandestine agent in the illegal drug trade : the `` narco-sub . '' As this decades-old conflict has ebbed and flowed , one thing has remained constant : the sheer ingenuity of narco-traffickers to invent and exploit new methods and routes for smuggling . We were granted access to the Málaga naval base about an hour outside of Buenaventura , which has been at the forefront of interdicting these vessels . The Colombian navy said some cartels are allocating increasing resources to the development of new smuggling technology . Several decades ago , Samsonite suitcases and underwear refashioned with hidden pockets enabled upstart smugglers to carry drugs across borders . Today , narco-subs are at the cutting edge of smuggling technology . The Colombian navy has collected a small group of narco-subs and boats at Málaga . They resemble speedboats with their roofs removed , more than any images you might conjure from `` The Hunt for Red October , '' and most of them are n't engineered to be fully submersible . But despite being built off the grid , having a ramshackle appearance , and occasionally malfunctioning at sea , narco-subs are increasingly used by traffickers to carry millions of dollars of illicit cargo , while evading some of the world 's most technologically advanced military equipment . See the rest of Colombian narco-subs at Motherboard.tv . It is unknown how many narco-subs have been deployed . The ones caught so far by the Colombian navy each sports a slightly different shape and set of features -- at least from the outside . But in the dark and musty interior of two semisubmersibles , their shared purpose is clear : to carry illicit cargo , a small crew of men , and enough gasoline for a journey that could last several weeks . What the vessels do not include , said officials , is a bathroom . Miguel Angel Montoya helped spearhead the construction of semisubmersibles for drug smuggling prior to leaving the trade . `` At the beginning , in the times of Pablo Escobar , it was common for planes to leave Colombia and land on clandestine strips in the U.S. or Mexico . Later , that was difficult . ... Innovations in drug trafficking come when the situation hits a crisis state , '' said Montoya . One of his last designs was the `` torpedo , '' an unmanned submersible towed behind another boat on the surface and outfitted with a radio-controlled recovery system in the event the navy captured it . Having temporarily discarded the evidence , the crew could later recover its cargo and continue its journey . The `` torpedo '' represents the height of narco-sub innovation as it was known five years ago . Who knows what might be crawling under the ocean 's surface today . This piece was created in partnership with Dell for Motherboard.tv -- VBS.TV staff .
Colombian traffickers using homemade submarines to transport drugs . Comment: VBS gets access to a naval base at the forefront of finding and intercepting the vessels .