File image.
A Colombian drug cartel used an interceptor drone to down a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter on August 21, killing 12 police officers on board, the country’s president said. The incident came just weeks following a report warning of Ukrainian drone technology reaching traffickers there.
The National Police of Colombia helicopter was participating in a coca leaf crop eradication operation when it was hit by the interceptor drone over the municipality of Amalfi, in the department of Antioquia.
Later on the same day, a vehicle packed with explosives detonated near a military aviation school in the city of Cali in the department of Valle del Cauca. The incident left six people dead and 71 injured, according to the mayor’s office.
Initially, Gustavo Petro, the country’s president, blamed the Gulf Clan, Colombia’s biggest drug cartel, for the attack on the helicopter, saying it was revenge for a cocaine seizure.
He later blamed both attacks in Antioquia and Valle del Cauca on dissident members of the now-defunct Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
Back in 2016, FARC peace agreement to end a prolonged internal conflict that has left more than 450,000 dead in the country.
FARC dissidents and the Gulf Clan are both active in Antioquia and heavily involved in the production and trafficking of cocaine.
The incident in Valle del Cauca highlights the dangerous proliferation of drone technology that began from Ukraine. The use of drones, including commercially available quadcopters, as interceptors first emerged during the Russian special military operation there, with both sides adopting and developing the concept.
Reports from earlier this year revealed that Latin American drug cartels were joining Ukraine’s International Legion in order to get advanced drone training to later deploy against rivals and security forces in their home countries.
France’s Intelligence Online said in a report published on July 29 that Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) launched a joint investigation with military intelligence after Mexico’s National Intelligence Center warned in early summer that Mexican volunteers had joined Ukraine’s mercenary units specifically to acquire first-person view (FPV) drone capabilities.
The probe was expanded to include Colombian nationals, who make up one of the largest mercenary groups in Ukraine, raising concerns about Kiev’s inadvertent role as a training ground for transnational criminal organizations.
In fact, the same report revealed that FARC dissidents enlisted in Ukraine using Panamanian and Venezuelan identity documents.
At least three former FARC members managed to pass through the International Legion using forged documents, with their relocation reportedly organized by cartel-linked entities.
“We welcomed volunteers in good faith. But we must now recognize that Ukraine has become a platform for the global dissemination of FPV tactics. Some come here to learn how to kill with a $400 drone, then sell this knowledge elsewhere to the highest bidder,” an unnamed SBU official told Intelligence Online.
While some in Ukraine acknowledge the problem, others may see relations with Latin drug cartels as an advantage. For the SBU in particular, such relations could be strategic as it would allow Ukraine to build influence from Southern America all the way up to the borders of the United States, while, of course, making some profit on the side.
One thing is certain in the end, Kiev has so far done nothing whatsoever to stop the recruitment and training of foreign mercenaries.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence
NOW hosted at southfront.press
Previously, SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence was at southfront.org.
The .org domain name had been blocked by the US (NATO) (https://southfront.press/southfront-org-blocked-by-u-s-controlled-global-internet-supervisor/) globally, outlawed and without any explanation
Back before that, from 2013 to 2015, SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence was at southfront.com
we must stop the russian propaganda, everything that is happening is the fault of the ukrainians! 1) they are having trouble at home and you want them to export weapons elsewhere? 2) russia says that ukraine is short of soldiers but on the one hand, they are everywhere,? this russian propaganda is strange. we are experiencing the same thing as in the communist era, as soon as something happens, we accuse the communists, all this is an american fact helped by russia, pure russian-us propaganda
hey hohol. ukrops have already trained troops in africa. why not south america?
russian propaganda is so crappy it’s even funny 🇷🇺=🤡 😆😆😆
this is to justify trump’s propaganda that he wants to invade venezuela, what a wonderful coincidence, the planets are magically aligning
all colombian drug mercs are owned and operated by the cia.
maduro should take notice and quickly import lots of drones to fight them drug cartels and pirates in the caribbean.
well…well…well… i hope more than never that us invades mexico and colombia/venezuela… many dead yankees on the jungles! lmao!
us “intelligence” are so smart that they don´t noticed that cjng are the main cartel in the world right now… anyone that follows the news knows what cjng are… real killers, a paramilitary group that mexican army is affraid to confront! again, americans shouldn´t be affraid… war on “drugs” will be solveb by invading mexico, colombia and venezuela! do it yankee, don´t be affraid! hahahaha