The Colombian navy on Wednesday introduced its first seizure of an unmanned “narco sub” geared up with a Starlink antenna off its Caribbean coast.
The semisubmersible vessel was not carrying medicine, however the Colombian navy and Western safety sources primarily based within the area informed AFP they believed it was a trial run by a cocaine trafficking cartel.
“It was being examined and was empty,” a naval spokeswoman confirmed to AFP.
Manned semi-submersibles in-built clandestine jungle shipyards have been used for many years to ferry cocaine north from Colombia, the world’s greatest cocaine producer, to Central America or Mexico.
However lately, they’ve been crusing a lot additional afield, crossing the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
The newest discover, introduced by Admiral Juan Ricardo Rozo at a press convention, is the primary reported discovery in South American waters of a drone narco sub.
The navy mentioned it was owned by the Gulf Clan, Colombia’s largest drug trafficking group and had the capability to move 1.5 tons of cocaine.
Colombian Navy Press Workplace / Handout/Anadolu by way of Getty Photos
The Gulf Clan is considered one of a number of cartels not too long ago designated as international terrorist teams by the USA.The group’s “major supply of revenue is from cocaine trafficking, which it makes use of to fund its paramilitary actions,” in keeping with the U.S. State Division.
A video launched by the navy confirmed a small gray vessel with a satellite tv for pc antenna on the bow.
This isn’t the primary time a Starlink antenna has been used at sea by suspected drug traffickers.
In November, Indian police seized a large consignment of meth price $4.25 billion in a vessel steered remotely by Starlink close to the distant Andaman and Nicobar islands.
It was the primary recognized discovery of a narco sub operated by Starlink.
Floating “coffins”
Cocaine manufacturing, seizures and use all hit document highs in 2023, the U.N. drug company mentioned final month.
In Colombia, manufacturing has reached document ranges, fuelled by surging world demand.
Rozo mentioned the usage of autonomous subs mirrored the traffickers “migration towards extra refined unmanned methods” that are laborious to detect at sea, “troublesome to trace by radar and even permit felony networks to function with partial autonomy.”
Juana Cabezas, a researcher at Colombia’s Institute for Growth and Peace Research, informed AFP that highly effective Mexican drug cartels, who function in Colombia, “employed expertise consultants and engineers to develop an unmanned submarine” way back to 2017.
She identified that drone vessels made it tougher for the authorities to pinpoint the drug lords behind the shipments.
“Eradicating the crew eliminates the chance of captured operators cooperating with authorities,” agreed Henry Shuldiner, an investigator for the U.S.-based InSight Crime suppose tank, who co-authored a report on the rise of narco subs.
Shuldiner additionally highlighted the problem of assembling crews to sail makeshift subs described as floating “coffins.” The journey may be lethal: In 2023, a “narco sub” with two lifeless our bodies and almost three tons of cocaine aboard was seized off the coast of Colombia.
Colombia Navy 
A close to document variety of the low-profile vessels have been intercepted within the Atlantic and Pacific in 2024, in keeping with the report.
In November final yr, 5 tons of Colombian cocaine have been discovered on a semi-submersible en path to faraway Australia.
Colombian legislation punishes the use, building, advertising, possession, and transportation of semi-submersibles with penalties of as much as 14 years in jail.
Although generally noticed off the coast of Colombia, narco subs have been intercepted throughout the globe in latest months.
Simply final week, the Mexican navy seized 3.5 tons of cocaine hidden in a semisubmersible vessel off the Pacific coast, whereas releasing video of the “narco sub” being intercepted.
In March, Portuguese police mentioned forces had confiscated almost 6.5 tons of cocaine from a semi-submersible vessel off the distant Azores archipelago that was sure for the Iberian peninsula. In January, a suspected narco sub broke in two items as a fishing boat was towing it to a port in northwest Spain.
