Source : BRICS NEWS
BOGOTA Oct 21, 2026 – Drug cartels plan to deploy fleets of booby-trapped submarines to smuggle cocaine into Europe, according to an intelligence report from the Colombian navy, BRICS News reported in a post on X on Wednesday, October 21.
The post said Latin American gangs are expected to use the homemade “narco-subs” as their main method for trafficking up to 1,500 tons of cocaine across the Atlantic a year. It added that the lightweight vessels, built in clandestine shipyards along the Colombian coastline and camouflaged to avoid detection, are easier to conceal because they sail just below the water’s surface.
The warning was first reported by The Telegraph on October 8, which said the uncrewed vessels would be rigged with explosives designed to detonate if police or the armed forces attempt to board them. According to the newspaper, the craft could either self-detonate or be blown up by remote control, allowing cartels to destroy evidence, stop investigators from tracing a vessel back to the shipyard where it was built, and deter officers from attempting an interception.
The findings are set out in a 30-page report on clandestine semi-submersibles by the International Centre for Research and Analysis against Maritime Drug Trafficking (CMCON), an intelligence hub led by the Colombian navy, The Telegraph reported. CMCON said the risk of booby-trapped submarines needs “permanent monitoring” by governments and militaries, and that its assessment was based on criminal trends, technological advances and expert analysis. According to CMCON intelligence cited by the newspaper, Latin America’s most dangerous cartels have formed a loose alliance to organise the financing, construction and transport of narco-subs from Colombia to Europe.
Narco-subs can carry up to nine tons of cocaine, worth an estimated £700 million, in a single voyage, The Telegraph said. The Daily Mail reported that the vessels can be steered remotely by a controller in South America or follow a pre-set course using GPS or Starlink satellite links, and that once they near the Spanish coast, speedboats are sent out to collect the cargo. The Colombian navy report projects that explosive-rigged drone subs could be crossing the Atlantic by 2035, although some experts quoted by the Daily Mail believe it could happen within two years.
Analysts told The Telegraph that US military strikes on fishing vessels allegedly trafficking drugs are understood to be behind the cartels’ shift towards automated submarines as a lower-risk alternative. Jennifer Scotland, a research fellow in the organised crime and policing team at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), told the newspaper that “the removal of personnel means that there’s no one on these vessels who can be captured and interrogated.” Without a crew needing food and water, the vessels can also be packed with more cocaine.
Signs of the shift have already surfaced. On July 2, 2025, Colombian police found a narco-sub off the coast of Santa Marta fitted with GPS, two Starlink antennas, a satellite system and two surveillance cameras. The vessel carried no drugs and was believed to be a test run, capable of carrying 1.5 tons of cocaine more than 800 nautical miles without refuelling, according to The Telegraph.
Europe has faced narco-subs for nearly two decades. The first submarine linked to drug smuggling in Europe was found off Spain in 2006, and in 2019 Spanish police intercepted a 65-foot vessel with three men on board off Galicia that was believed to have sailed some 4,778 nautical miles from Colombia, the Daily Mail reported. Latin American news site Infobae, citing the same investigation, noted that container shipping still remains the main route for cocaine bound for Europe, with ports such as Rotterdam and Antwerp among the key destinations.
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