Details from the Washington Post
They remind you a bit of the Monitor of the "Merrimac and Monitor" Civil War fame. They never really go completely underwater - they skim the surface with about 98% of their bulk underwater.
They are made of fiberglass and have a big dumb diesel engine with the exhaust muffled by the water to cut down its heat footprint making it harder to be detected by instruments. The hull is designed to be "stealthy" to trick radar. It costs about $1 million to build one and they are designed for just one trip. They can carry up to 10 tons of cocaine with a street value of about $100 million - yes $100 million. At the end of the journey - the cargo is transfered and the boat is "deep-sixed."
The boats have an uncomfortable cabin for 4 - a bucket for a toilet - and sleeping space on the floor. They travel mostly at night and just float like a log during the day. If detected by the Coast Guard - they quickly pull several large plugs and the ship is sunk in 1.5 minutes. The capture turns into a rescue mission and the crew of 4 is turned over to Columbia where they are usually set free.
Future plans include radio control - so that there will be no crew to capture.
The picture shows a captured boat in Key West.
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