‘Narco submarines’ found in Solomon Islands highlight Australia’s defence capability gap
Three mysterious vessels have washed up in the Pacific, exposing a dangerous vulnerability that could threaten Australia in ways far beyond just the drug trade.
Drug-trafficking “narco subs” are plying the waters around Australia, and the ADF is not equipped to deal with them, a national security expert says.
Three abandoned narco subs have been found in the Solomon Islands recently, beginning last August when a local doctor discovered one at the Ontong Java Atoll.
They were found empty but, alarmingly, it’s believed they were trafficking tonnes of meth and cocaine to Australian shores.
The doctor has since repurposed the 25-metre vessel into his personal boat, according to the local media team In-Depth Solomons.
In July, an almost identical craft washed up near Ramos Island. And earlier this month, a third was found in Malaita, and towed back to shore by two men who had been on a boat run to a local market.
Michael Shoebridge, founder of Strategic Analysis Australia, said the semi- or fully-submersible vessels were being used by drug cartels to transport drugs from South America to Australia, using countries like the Solomon Islands as stepping stones.
“These are low-profile, hard-to-find, hard-to-stop vessels. They can go about 10 knots, so it can take about a month to go from South America to Australia – and you can carry tonnes of drugs in them,” Mr Shoebridge told news.com.au.
“Their reach is now global, and unfortunately, Australia is an extremely profitable market for illegal drugs.”
Mr Shoebridge did not agree with the US military’s approach of attacking boats suspected of trafficking drugs in the Caribbean, where narco subs are a significant part of the drug trade.
“I don’t think the kind of extrajudicial killing we’re seeing the American government engage in is a precedent Australia should follow.”
But he believed Australia’s Border Force, navy, and air force should be working with Pacific partners to “disrupt and arrest drug smugglers”.
“The problem of very profitable drug routes coming from South America to Australia via the South Pacific is something that should be a higher priority than it is, and our navy is not well-equipped to surveil and disrupt these narco subs.”
The problem raised a disturbing question about Australia’s defences.
The low profile of narco subs in the water makes them very difficult, if not impossible, to detect on radar.
If drug cartels are easily able to evade authorities during peacetime, Mr Shoebridge asked, what would happen if a foreign military used these vessels in a time of war?
“They are new technologies that are relevant to war-fighting and to the way navies need to operate.”
He pointed out that Australia’s unmanned undersea program, Ghost Shark, was costing “$10 million or more per vessel,” while narco subs cost “more in the order of a few hundred thousand dollars”.
“So really a big signal to our military is, take some lessons from the drug cartels because they can do it much more cheaply.”
Where did the subs come from?
Some of the evidence found on board the boats in the Solomon Islands pointed to South American origins.
An Ecuadorean voter ID card was recovered on the second, and the words “made in Colombia, 2024” were reportedly written on the fuel pipes inside the third sub.
It’s unclear whether they drifted all the way to the Solomons from South America or were abandoned nearby, but experts have their theories.
Jose Sousa-Santos, head of the Pacific Regional Security Hub at the University of Canterbury, said they were likely towed by a mothership or fishing boat from South America.
“They’re used to pick up the drugs from the mothership, take them to a Pacific island and then island-hop to Australia where the drugs will be transferred to a pleasure craft or another boat,” Mr Sousa-Santos told news.com.au.
He believed they were just one, disposable part of a large supply chain. The US had been battling the use of vessels like this for years, but they were new to the Pacific.
“From all the photos and from all the interviews I’ve had with people on the ground, there is no large amount of barnacles, no long-growing seaweed on them. It seems they’ve been dumped for a very short amount of time.”
He said the boats were of simple fibreglass construction with internal wooden beams. Each one was fitted with four motors of up to 120 horsepower, making them extremely fast.
But they were still able to carry up to 2.5 tonnes of cocaine or methamphetamines.
“They can’t be used over and over again because you get micro-cracks in the fibreglass, and you’re not going to take the chance of losing a consignment (of drugs).”
Aside from their ability to evade radar, they were also fast enough to outrun navy and coast guard ships, making them almost impossible to intercept.
Mr Sousa-Santos recommended that Australia engage with agencies like the DEA and the United States Coast Guard, which were already familiar with narco subs.
“At the moment we’re dealing with a lack of capability and resources, and we need to pivot very quickly.”
He warned the same vessels could be used to smuggle weapons rather than drugs, which could prove a “large destabilising factor” in the Pacific, for example, in tensions between Bougainville and Papua New Guinea.
