Spanish police have seized three underwater drones designed to smuggle drugs.
The sting - which included eight arrests - came after a 14-month operation into the ring, which involved self-driving vessels that have the capacity to hold 200kg of cargo over the strip of sea that connects southern Spain to Morocco.
The police said in a statement: "These devices could allow drug traffickers to transport large quantities of narcotics remotely across the Strait of Gibraltar.”
One of the devices - which had GPS trackers attached so they can be driven by a remote user with a tablet- were built to completion while the other two were still in progress, which were believed to be a part of a scheme involving a drug gang in France seeking to smuggle cocaine.
Along with the drones, authorities uncovered and took 14kg of hashish, eight kg of marijuana and £135,527 in cash and six aerial drones.
Two of the men arrested were a father and son duo, who one them - according to police - were a trained and qualified helicopter pilot able to make these kinds of devices.
Authorities also claimed that the group were particularly adept at creating a fleet of vehicles able to go drive, fly or float in water.
Last year, Spanish police captured a homemade submarine - made out of plywood and fibreglass -with the capability of transporting two tonnes of drugs in Malaga and arrested 52 people from across the country following a drug raid.
