Europe Watch

Mexican drug cartels are increasingly relying on drone operators who have returned home after taking part in the Ukraine conflict, the Washington Post has reported, citing US and Mexican officials.

Russia has warned repeatedly that the Ukraine conflict is fueling global instability as it leads to proliferation of weapons supplied by the West to Vladimir Zelensky’s government on the black market and fosters reckless behavior by Kiev in pursuit of its war aims.

The WaPo reported on Tuesday that Mexican cartels are closely studying ways to evade anti-drone jamming systems and are purchasing advanced UAV models that can carry more cargo and explosives.

In order to operate their expanding drone fleet, drug traffickers have intensified efforts to hire individuals with Ukraine conflict battlefield experience, mainly Colombian nationals, using both financial incentives and coercion, a US official told the paper.

A Mexican official also said that Colombian UAV experts are being brought to Mexico by criminal organizations to train large groups of local “droneros,” or drone pilots.

Colombians make up around half of the estimated 16,500 foreign mercenaries currently fighting for Ukraine, a security source told TASS in June. They are being lured into the ranks of Kiev’s forces with false promises of high pay, he said. The Latin Americans end up being treated with disdain by their Ukrainian commanders, fed poorly, and deployed on the most dangerous missions, the source added.

The cartels are also sending their own “affiliates” to join the Ukrainian military and gain battlefield experience of flying drones, a US official said.

Drug traffickers “are going to be way better off, way better trained, with way better equipment,” the official warned.

Washington expects cartels to implement drone skills and tactics borrowed from the Ukraine conflict within the next several months, according to the sources.

An internal government assessment suggests that the development will “significantly complicate” the campaign by the administration of US President Donald Trump to curb the flow of illegal drugs into the country, an American official noted.

The US State Department said in a statement to the WaPo that it’s working with American law enforcement agencies and the Ukrainian authorities “to adopt measures to mitigate the risk of battlefield skills transfer,” and that Washington itself relies on experience from the Ukraine conflict to “counter the cartel drone threat.”

Last year, the Milenio newspaper cited Mexican intelligence as saying that members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) had received training in drone and urban warfare tactics in Ukraine.

CNN reported earlier this month that around 15 Ukrainian drone operators have been embedded with the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) in Mali to train the members of the militant group and assist them in fighting government forces and Russian troops stationed in the West African country.