TECH SUPPORT

Drone Narco Sub Busted Using Musk’s Tech in Suspected Cocaine Cartel Seizure

The semisubmersible was intercepted by Colombian authorities off the country’s Caribbean coast.

An unmanned narco drone sub equipped with a Starlink antenna has been seized by the Colombian Navy. The semisubmersible was not loaded with drugs, but authorities and Western officials in the South American country believe it was a trial run by a feared drug cartel. The vessel was intercepted off Colombia’s Caribbean coast, near Santa Marta, equipped with a Starlink satellite dish from Elon Musk’s SpaceX. “It was being tested and was empty,” the navy told AFP on Wednesday. They attributed the operation to the Gulf Clan drug trafficking organization, adding that the vessel could have carried 1.5 tons of cocaine. This is not the first time Starlink terminals have been used for clandestine illegal operations. In November last year, Indian authorities busted an unmanned vessel loaded with $4.25 billion worth of meth which was being remotely steered using the service, in the remote Andaman and Nicobar islands. The Musk-created panels harness low-orbit satellites to provide connectivity in far-flung internet dark zones.