The Colombian Navy has for the first time seized an unmanned drug submarine equipped with a Starlink antenna, UNN reports, citing AFP.
Details
It happened off the Caribbean coast.
The vessel was not carrying drugs, but the Colombian navy and Western security sources based in the region told AFP they believed it was a test conducted by a cocaine cartel.
"It was being tested and it was empty," a Navy spokeswoman confirmed to AFP.
Piloted semi-submersible vessels, built in clandestine jungle shipyards, have been used for decades to transport cocaine north from Colombia, the world's largest cocaine producer, to Central America or Mexico.
But in recent years, they have sailed much further, crossing the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
The latest discovery, reported by Admiral Juan Ricardo Rozo at a press conference, is the first recorded detection in South American waters of an unmanned drug submarine.
The Navy said it belonged to the Gulf Clan, Colombia's largest drug trafficking group, and had the capacity to carry 1.5 tons of cocaine.
A video released by the navy shows a small gray vessel with a satellite antenna on its bow. This is not the first time a Starlink antenna has been used at sea by suspected drug traffickers.