Crooks are allegedly packing electric vehicles with illegal narcotics and sending them off on the road without a human at the wheel
Crooks are allegedly packing electric vehicles with illegal narcotics and sending them off on the road without a human at the wheel

He was the head of assassinations for drug baron Pablo Escobar’s notorious Medellin Cartel and knows a thing or two about the criminal underworld.

Now the cocaine kingpin’s brother has claimed that criminals are using Tesla’s self-driving autopilot technology to lower the risk of being caught whilst smuggling drugs.

Today, Roberto de Jesús Escobar Gaviria is a businessman whose company manages the assets of the family and also sells flamethrowers – a market Elon Musk moved into last year with the release of his ‘Not A Flamethrower’.

Mr Escobar told Metro that South American smugglers are buying up Telsas, filling them with drugs and then using autopilot to drive them to their destination with no-one at the wheel.

He did not share details of how this was achieved, because Autopilot is not yet capable of full self-driving, meaning criminals would have to hack a Tesla’s systems in some way to turn the car into an autonomous drug smuggling machine.

Tesla and Elon Musk have no link to these criminals and do not hold any responsibility for their alleged actions.

Picture: The Boring Company Elon Musk is locked in a flamethrower war with drug baron Paulo Escobar's brother
This is Elon’s ‘not a flamethrower’ (Picture: The Boring Company)
This is the flamethrower made by Escobar Inc. (Photo: Escobar Inc)
This is the flamethrower made by Escobar Inc. (Photo: Escobar Inc)

‘That is the only thing a Tesla is good for here in South America,’ Escobar told Metro.

‘You put it into autopilot and it can drive without a person taking the risk.

‘I heard a lot of people use it especially for countries within South America and that many people can hack nowadays the systems also to make it the way they want it.’

We asked if the cars were used in cross-border drug smuggling.

Escobar replied: ‘All borders. All types of drugs. Why else would people buy a Tesla in South America? Or most places?

‘Because it looks nice? No, it serves a purpose.

‘Most countries except the USA and EU do not have many electric charging places at all.

These vehicles are not functional [in the way traditional petrol cars are right now].

‘But for driving by itself and taking no risk of course they are good.’

Autopilot is a system which allows Tesla cars to perform driving manoeuvres such as changing lanes.

Many of its sophisticated abilities require a human to touch the wheel and it does not yet allow ‘full self-driving’, although this capability is likely to be introduced in the coming years.

We have written to Tesla and asked if it was aware of drug smugglers using its cars.

‘Because it looks nice? No it serves a purpose.

‘Most countries except USA and EU do not have many electric charging places at all. These vehicles are not functional [in the way traditional petrol cars are right now].

‘But for driving by itself and taking no risk of course they are good.’

We have written to Tesla and asked if it was aware of drug smugglers using its cars.

Drug baron Pablo Escobar's brother launches flamethrower war against Elon Musk
The billionaire is under fire from a man who was ‘chief of assassinations’ for the Medellin Cartel (Picture: The Boring Company, Rex, Getty)

Musk is currently involved in a red hot argument with Escobar Inc, which is currently selling a flamethrower that hit the market just over one year after Musk’s Boring Company launched its own ‘Not A Flamethrower’, which was given its name to avoid restrictions on shipping.

Last week, Escobar asked Musk to hand over $10 million.

In response to questions from Metro, he joked: ‘If Pablo was alive, Elon Musk would be begging us to please take all of his Tesla shares and all his money, and we would not do it.

‘Many people have faced bigger consequences for much much less when we were ruling the world.

‘But for some reason I like this guy Elon, so I would probably take him out for a nice dinner.’

He added: ‘I did not talk to Elon, his engineers spoke with me. I don’t need to talk to Elon. Whoever comes to me, I speak with.

‘Elon is a small young boy. I made all the money he ever made in maximum one year. If he wants he can email me, it is easy to reach me.

‘I don’t mind to meet with him and see who is the real boss.

‘If he is not too scared. No bodyguards, just me and him, a gentleman’s meeting. In Colombia. I can not travel outside at this time.’

We asked Mr Escobar why he is selling a flamethrower and he replied: ‘I like to burn cash. It is necessary in some places to burn cash, for practical purposes.

‘So we made a flamethrower. You can use it to burn almost anything.

‘We burned a few billion me and Pablo.’

Musk released his own device in 2018 and sold 20,000 units at $500 a pop – meaning he earned $1,000,000 from sales.

Nonetheless, Escobar has called on Elon to pay him $10 million in cash or hand over $100 million of Tesla stock.

On Twitter, Musk responded to the drama with the simple statement: ‘It’s Not a Flamethrower, Mr Escobar.’

Roberto Escobar was not happy about this comment.

He told Metro: ‘Of course. This is his way of avoiding our claim. I will give him a simple deal now.

‘Option 1, pay $100 million in Tesla Inc shares.

‘Option 2, Pay $10 million cash.

‘Option 3, send a flamethrower of mine to space, make a nice video, and with the picture of one of my new companies.

‘See, I am very flexible. Ask Elon which deal he wants to make now.’

We’ve written to Elon Musk and The Boring Company for comment.