We can’t stop talking about drones and how they are taking over everything from Ukrainian sneak attacks inside Russia to DoorDash deliveries in the U.S. It was only a matter of time before the drones got involved with drugs, but in an interesting twist, they’ve also gotten mixed up with Starlink, Elon Musk’s space-based internet satellite service.
The Colombian navy has intercepted its first autonomous drone “narco” submarine, fitted out with a Starlink antenna, after years of chasing down manned subs crammed with cocaine. According to CBS News, the vessel was empty and the authorities think it was just being tested by a major drug cartel that has been secretly shipping dope in the Caribbean Sea, destined for Central America and Mexico. The captured sub could carry an estimated 1.5 tons of blow.
Colombia has encountered unmanned narco subs before, but this latest craft appears to be setting a new standard for tech. It’s certainly a far cry from the manned subs that we’ve grown accustomed to, which as CBS News noted are notorious death traps. It’s not a first for Starlink, however, the news outlet reported: a whopping $4.25 billion in meth was seized on a ship near India last year, and the boat was being operated remotely using a Starlink connection.
Getting the human criminals out of the subs
Calling these things “subs” is a bit of a stretch. They’re really more like partially sunk homemade skiffs, difficult to spot in open water. They are evidently pretty seaworthy, however, leaving the littoral coasts and striking out for the blue ocean expanses of the Atlantic and Pacific. Getting human drug runners out of the picture is desirable for the cartels, CBS News reports, because if the shipment is captured, there are no thugs to interrogate about the criminal cargo. Recruiting sailors for the hastily built crafts is also reportedly a challenge, and we can’t say we’re shocked.
The Colombian navy performed a highly capable job here, but you can just imagine how modern-day drone fanatics like Andruil CEO Palmer Luckey are salivating over the opportunity to send swarms of submersible counter-drones to interdict this latest innovation from the globe’s drug lords. It’s possible that the good guys and the bad guys will both be using Starlink.
We are on the leading edge of something weird
The only thing this story lacks is AI, but it’s probably only a matter of time before “first captured drone narco sub with Starlink” graduates to “first captured drone narco sub with Starlink and Grok.” It’s always good to remember that the march of progress includes advancement in the nefarious arts. In the same way that Microsoft and Meta don’t want to be left out, neither do the globe’s most successful crime syndicates.
Colombia is on it. The news of the captured Starlink drone narco sub was released as part of a wider update on an initiative called the Orion Multinational Strategy, a 62-country undertaking that the Colombia navy said had already rounded up ten narco subs since the beginning of the year. In total, the initiative has prevented 27 tons of cocaine from hitting the market. But the Colombian navy also called the new Starlink sub an “unprecedented case” and a “worrying trend.” These vessels are pretty janky looking. But they’re evolving. And the naval forces of an entire country think they’re a big problem.
