A disturbing report is raising serious security concerns after listings for advanced “kamikaze” drones, which closely resemble Iran’s infamous Shahed attack drones, were discovered for sale on the Chinese shopping platform Alibaba.

According to investigations, multiple sellers were openly advertising and selling long-range, one-way attack drones or suicide drones for under $50,000, disguising them as harmless commercial tools such as “pesticide sprayers” or “aerial mapping equipment.”

The same drones were described as fully capable of warfare, including carrying explosive payloads and striking targets over distances of up to 100 kilometers. Some models were nearly identical in size and capability to Iran’s Shahed-136 drones. The Iranian drones are a low-cost weapon that have already reshaped warfare in conflicts across the Middle East and Ukraine.

Several of the drones were equipped with thermal imaging and advanced AI guidance systems capable of autonomously identifying and locking onto targets, including people, buildings, vehicles, and ships, before striking them. The smaller drones capable of carrying explosive payloads were marketed online as agricultural tools, while their full capabilities, including their use as “suicide attack drones,” were only revealed in the fine print of the product catalogs.

Alibaba removed the listings and suspended the sellers involved. However, this incident reveals a much larger and more dangerous trend, the spread and accessibility of cheap, highly capable autonomous weapons disguised as civilian technology. Unlike missiles, these drones are relatively cheap, easy to mass-produce, and autonomous, which makes them accessible not only to governments but really to anybody who just wants them.