Drug cartels plan to smuggle cocaine into Europe using a fleet of booby-trapped drone submarines that will explode if police try to board them.
The unmanned craft will either detonate automatically or be blown up by a remote operator, according to an intelligence report from the Colombian navy.
South American gangs have long trafficked drugs across the Atlantic using so-called ‘narco-subs’.
Constructed in clandestine shipyards buried deep in the Colombian jungle, they can carry up to nine tons of cocaine, worth up to £700million, during a single voyage.
The vessels can be operated remotely by a controller in South America, or follow a set course using GPS or Elon Musk‘s Starlink system.
Once they reach the coast of Spain, speedboats are deployed to pick up their illicit cargo before it is taken overland to its destination, often the UK.
A new Colombian navy report predicts that explosives-rigged drone subs could cross the Atlantic as early as 2035. But some experts believe this is an underestimate and they could be making their way to Europe in as little as two years.
Peter Walsh, author of Drug War: The Secret History, said the subs would likely have been designed with input from former members of the Colombian military.
A file photo showing an automomous underwater vehicle in operation off the coast of Portugal
‘The sophistication of these vessels has been increasing year after year,’ he told the Daily Mail.
‘When they first appeared 20 years ago they were very crude semi-submersibles manned by desperate, impoverished crewmen. They were incredibly dangerous and goodness knows how many are now lying at the bottom of the ocean.
‘Today you have former navy or special forces personnel in Latin America working for the cartels. They are the South American equivalents of Britain’s Special Boat Service (SBS) so think of all the technical expertise and seamanship they’ll bring to bear.’
Rigging submarines with explosives will deter law enforcement from attempting to intercept them.
Detonating the vessels could also allow cartels to destroy evidence and make it harder for authorities to trace their origin.
In July last year, Colombian police found a narco-sub equipped with a GPS, two Starlink antennas and two CCTV cameras.
The vessel, which was found off the coast of Santa Marta, was believed to be a prototype capable of carrying 1.5 tons of cocaine and travelling 800 nautical miles without refuelling.
The first submarine linked to drug smuggling in Europe was found off the coast of Spain in 2006.
In 2019, police intercepted a 65-foot vessel off the coast of Galicia and found three men onboard. Astonishingly, it is believed to have sailed across the Atlantic from Colombia, a journey of 4,778 nautical miles.
Colombian police guarding a narco-sub under contruction in a secret shipyard in the Colombian jungle
A crew being rescued from a sinking narco sub after it was intercepted by Spanish customs officers and police in the Atlantic
The crew of four men, who are from Colombia, were rescued from the sinking submersible after they purposefully made the vessel sink in order to get rid of their illicit cargo
Unmanned craft are also far from new. In 2020, Spain’s Policia Nacional seized three underwater drones built to smuggle drugs from Morocco across the Strait of Gibraltar.
Fitted with GPS navigation systems, the drones could potentially be operated by traffickers from anywhere in the world via the internet.
The unmanned submersibles were said to be capable of carrying up to 200kg (441lb) of cargo.
Narco-subs designed to carry crews are often flimsy and dangerous.
In 2024, one crew was rescued from their sinking sub after it was intercepted by Spanish customs officers and police in the Atlantic.
Video showed four Colombian men standing on top of the submersible after they deliberately sank it when they saw officers approaching.
In a second clip, the men are seen struggling to stay afloat in crashing waves while clinging to black barrels.
They were then taken onboard the customs vessel and handcuffed.
Narco-subs deployed in the Americas are typically built deep inside cartel-controlled territory.
So far, at least three manned subs have been caught near Spain, though authorities estimate that as many as 30 may have slipped through undetected.
Galicia has long been considered an ideal hub for drug trafficking.
Its rocky coastline means there are countless nooks and crannies where drugs can be brought ashore before being passed on to distributors.
Royal Marines commandos storming a narco sub in the Caribbean Sea in 2024
Royal Navy personnel on board HMS Trent, supported by the US Coast Guard, made the seizure in September 2024 (pictured are naval staff with some of the seized drugs)
One vessel caught by police was said to have been carrying 3,000kg of cocaine.
Narco-subs have also been spotted in the Caribbean, and in 2024 one was boarded by Royal Marine commandos during a maritime security patrol.
A boarding team made up of Royal Marines from 47 Commando, specialist sailors and US Coast Guard personnel clambered aboard the vessel in waters 190 nautical miles south of the Dominican Republic and seized two tons of cocaine worth £160million. Two crew members were arrested.
The bust was the eighth carried out by Portsmouth-based HMS Trent, which intercepted £750million worth of cocaine in just seven months.
As well as hunting drug gangs, Trent also delivers humanitarian aid during hurricane season.
Last year, Mr Walsh said it was ‘feasible’ narco-subs may already be operating in British waters.
At the time, the National Crime Agency said it had not seen the vessels operating in UK waters and did not consider them ‘a significant threat’.
