I thought I might have missed a few months and it was April 1st, when I read this one that an obsolete and derelict Oberon-class submarine, HMAS Otama, which has been moored off Hastings on Victoria's Mornington Peninsula for eight years while a local community group has tried to turn it into a tourist attraction, might  have been the target of being bought by drug runners!

It appears Max Bryant the president of the Western Port Oberon Association, who bought the sub from the Royal Australian Navy for $50,000, failed to get the tourism attraction off the ground and decided to advertise the sub for sale on eBay, and as he described, received an inquiry that "set alarms bells ringing".

The elements of the discussion that set those bells ringing were questions about whether the sub could be made to run again, how much fuel the boat carried, what was its range and how it could be made seaworthy again!

Mr Bryant then immediately called ASIO who is investigating the potential attempt to purchase the sub, saying that he thought the questions were very peculiar because a submarine is the ultimate covert vessel you use one when you don't want to be detected and that he became concerned that they might want to use it for something illegal.

Media reports say that with small submarines apparently increasingly used by international drug cartels to smuggle drugs between international borders, the US Department of Homeland Security estimates that drug submarines now account for 32% of all maritime cocaine flow between Latin America and the US, but no drug cartel or terrorist group is believed to have purchased a submarine as large as the 2000-tonne Otama, which spent its life from 1978 to 2000 conducting top-secret surveillance missions against Soviet targets.

It is not known whether the enquirer had a Spanish sounding voice or accent or whether Mr Bryant had been asked if would accept payment in Colombian pesos!

Isn't it logical that the Royal Australian Navy would have ensured that the sub could not be used or moved - or perhaps not!

Ah well, if you live near Hastings and see some swarthy looking guys turn up in at the local RSL, in cars with heavily tinted windows, with bulges in their jackets, speaking Spanish and drinking Coronas, then I think a call to ASIO might be on the cards!

An Industry Insider Special Report by John Alwyn-Jones, e-Travel Blackboard Special Correspondent.