The robot revolution is here: Crimes committed by autonomous vehicles, drones and humanoids are on the rise

Europol is planning for the future of law enforcement given the “rapid advancement and integration of unmanned systems in various sectors.” While these technologies offer more operational and support opportunities for authorities, “criminal and terrorist groups are often early adopters of technology” which will allow them to gain advantages, the EU law enforcement agency warns in a new report.

“Just as the internet and smartphones presented significant opportunities as well as challenges, so will this technology,” said Catherine De Bolle, Europol’s executive director, in a statement.

“The integration of unmanned systems into crime is already here. And we have to ask ourselves how criminals and terrorists might use drones and robots some years from now,” she added.

Tactics and equipment used in warfare have spilled over into criminal activities

Criminals spotted the potential that unmanned systems offer at least as far back as 2010 when the first criminal use of drones was reported notes the report produced by the Europol Innovation Lab. Since then, the technology has become much more sophisticated with malicious actors “now capable of producing professional and advanced drones in an artisanal way.”

Europol says that 2022 was a turning point with the first known instances of unmanned underwater drones used for nefarious purposes being discovered, as well as the “wide spread antagonistic use of unmanned systems in all domains” in Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.

“Over the past years, tactics and equipment used in warfare have spilled over into organised crime and terrorism, impacting law enforcement,” highlights Europol. The agency says that reports of drone use around European infrastructure are on the rise, and “there are examples of drone pilots selling their services online, transforming this criminal process from crime-as-a-service to crime-at-a-distance.”

Areas of concern for malicious use of unmanned systems

The integration of these advanced technologies into every aspect of life raise difficult issues of safety, security, and who’s responsible for a incident. For example, the question arises when a robot or autonomous vehicle injures a person, was it a malfunction or was there a malicious actor behind the incident.

The use of unmanned drones, which are operated by skilled operators for hire that control them from remote locations, in surveillance and drug trafficking are two areas of even greater concern for Europol. “This allows both the successful conduct of these operations as well as offer a means to further distance people from the act,” observes the report.

The agency notes that in October 2025, an unmanned “narco submarine” was seized off the coast of Colombia that had been fitted out with a Starlink satellite antenna. The use of drones for smuggling “is particularly prevalent in rural and uninhabited border areas in Europe,” highlights Europol.

“However, a potentially greater threat is the ability of these systems to gather information, which can be used to support a wide range of criminal, terrorist, or hybrid operations,” cautions the report. “This intelligence-gathering capability is particularly concerning because it is difficult to detect, can be used repeatedly over time, and can provide long-term value to malicious actors, making it a more significant and enduring threat than the smuggling itself.”

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