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Mexican cartel bosses are sending gang members to Ukraine to learn about drone warfare and use it against their rivals.
Flying robots are increasingly being used in the Central American country's war on drugs. Recent footage showed the Gulf Cartel piloting a drone and dropping a bomb on the home of the mother of El Chapo, the boss of the rival Sinaloa Cartel, in La Tuna.
In most cases, gangs are buying commercially available drones and modifying them to carry explosives. A source from the Sinaloa Cartel said that “the bad guys here are buying a lot of drones… the war here is done by using drones to attack enemy vehicles and using [anti-drone jammers] to defend themselves.”
And gangs are already using small radio-controlled quadcopters to transport drugs in and out of prisons.
But organized crime bosses are now sending gang members to Ukraine to learn as much as they can about the next generation in drone warfare.
Former British Army officer Paddy Ginn, whose report "Crime by Drone" was published last week, said drug cartels "are using the technologies, expertise and tactics and techniques that are being seen on the battlefield in Ukraine. And law enforcement must work quickly to catch up."
Paddy added that gang members are being sent to fight in Ukraine, not out of opposition to Putin’s invasion, but simply to glean as much knowledge as they can from current world leaders in drone warfare. “What they started doing is sending people to fight with the Ukrainians, not because they believe in the cause, but because they want them to bring that expertise back to Mexico,” he added.
Defense News reports that Ukrainian counterintelligence services have launched an investigation into the infiltration of the country's International Legion by members of a Latin American drug cartel seeking advanced training in the use of drones.
A Mexican national, traveling on a forged Salvadoran passport, enlisted in the legion in March 2024 posing as a humanitarian volunteer. He completed advanced drone training in Lviv, demonstrating exceptional technical expertise that ultimately raised the suspicions of his instructors.
An investigation suggested that the man had ties to a group of ultra-violent mercenaries working for the cartels.
Nathan P. Jones, an associate professor of security studies at Sam Houston State University and author of the book “Mexico’s Illicit Drug Network and the State Response,” revealed in an interview that cartel leaders have already begun adopting advanced military technology, such as invulnerable cable-controlled drones, to strike their enemies.
"An increase in territorial business models and a general homogenization of the tactics, techniques and procedures of organized crime in Mexico. Intense competition for territory has led to the adoption of new technologies such as drones and possible innovations such as the use of fiber optic cables to control them," he said.
Paddy says the Jalisco New Generation Cartel is currently at the forefront of drone warfare, but their rivals are quickly catching up.
“The barriers to entry in using drone capabilities have been greatly reduced recently by the sharing of these technologies online, by 3D printing, by the expertise and skills that have been brought from Ukraine,” adds Paddy.
Further south in Brazil, on October 29, the Comando Vermelho gang used drones to attack police during an outbreak of violence in Rio de Janeiro that left 64 dead. Dr. Carlos Solar of the Royal United Services Institute told the BBC: "Drones that drop bombs are now a trend used by heavily armed criminal groups."
"It is unfortunate to say that these drones are likely to become the norm," he added. / Adapted from Daily Star /
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