Drone ‘narco subs’ laden with drugs ‘could be operating in the UK’

Drone ‘narco subs’ could be operating in UK waters as a new way to transport drugs, according to an expert.

South American cartels regularly try and smuggle drugs to Britain via cargo ships, with packages moved to a floatation device closer to shore, before being picked up by smaller boats.

These boats, often fishing vessels or rigid-hull inflatables (RHIBs), are often intercepted by UK authorities – but there are now fears criminals could be using drone ‘narco subs’.

Manned semi-submersible vessels – dubbed ‘narco subs’ – have long been used to smuggle drugs – especially in South America.

But in recent years there have been a small number of incidents where authorities have uncovered unmanned underwater vessels built to smuggle narcotics.

In 2020 Spain’s Policia National seized three underwater drones ‘narco subs’ due to be sailed from Morocco and over the Strait of Gibraltar. 

The unmanned semisubmersibles were said to be capable of carrying up to 200kg (441lbs) of cargo. 

Then on July 2 this year the Columbian Navy said it had seized an unmanned semisubmersible vessel in Caribbean waters that was able to transport up to 1.5 tonnes of cocaine, according to Naval News.

One UK expert said there’s a chance drone ‘narco subs’ are already operating in the UK.

‘I’ve not seen evidence of it yet, but it’s plausible,’ Peter Walsh, author of Drug War: The Secret History, told the Daily Mail. 

‘When gangs use boats to pick up drugs there’s always the risk of those onboard being caught. Then you don’t only lose your drugs – they could flip on you too.

‘That means there would be a double advantage of using unmanned drones for this type of trafficking.’

In an interview with Naval News, open source intelligence analyst, H. I. Sutton, said a typical unmanned narco sub ‘runs low in the water with just the air inlets and communications antenna above water’.

‘This will make it very difficult to detect, although no more so than the crewed equivalent,’ he explained.

Mr Sutton said the challenge criminals could face with this new method of smuggling is keeping the engine running.

‘There is no crew aboard to fix it if it breaks down. This will however be baked into the risk-benefit calculation,’ he added.

Manned semisubmersibles and fully fledged submarines carrying drugs are rarer in Europe than South America, but authorities have come across a few.

The first submarine linked to smuggling drugs in Europe was seized off the coast of Spain in 2006. 

In 2019, police stopped a 65-foot ‘narco sub’ off the coast of Galicia and discovered three men on board.

It’s thought the vessel had made it all the way across the Atlantic from Columbia.

Mr Walsh thinks manned subs or semi-submersible could possibly be in operation across the English channel, though acknowledges the poor sea conditions and the fact it’s a busy shipping route could ‘complicate it’.

Therefore, he said, it would make more sense to transport it by sea to Spain and bring it over land to the UK.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) told Metro it was aware of ‘narco subs’ being used to smuggle cocaine from South America but it had not seen the method used in the UK and did not currently see it as a significant threat.

Last year, the NCA seized nearly five tonnes of cocaine that suppliers were attempting to bring to the UK using the ‘at-sea drop-off’ (ASDO) method. All these cases involved boats not submarines.

Thirty six individuals were arrested as a result, it said.

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