Submarine, homemade and cocaine-laden, is seized off Mexico

Jose Luis Vergara, a navy spokesman, said in a radio interview that special forces waited until the vessel surfaced before rappelling from helicopters and overpowering the four-man crew.

Vergara called the submarine bust unprecedented for the navy.

"There were a lot of packages," he said. "It appears to be cocaine."

The navy provided no information on the identities or nationalities of the suspects.

Colombian authorities have captured more than a dozen such vessels over the last couple of years.

Law enforcement experts say the homemade subs are becoming ever more sophisticated.

Meanwhile, Mexico's drug wars claimed another high-ranking law enforcement official.

Salomon Diaz, a Sinaloa state police commander, was shot dead by suspected drug gang hit men in the troubled western state, where more than 300 people have died in drug-related violence this year.

marla.dickerson@latimes.com