August 2, 2014: There have been rumors for years that cartels have used drone (UAV) aircraft to fly drugs over the U.S. border. Now the rumors come with statistics. Though no U.S. security agency is on the record about cartel drone operations, one estimate making the rounds is that cartels flew approximately 150 drone smuggling missions in 2012. The drones transport high value drugs such as cocaine. Using drones to smuggle drugs is inevitable. Drones have a small radar signature. They are cheaper to acquire and use than other options, such as building a long tunnel. The UAVs can carry small payloads (2-3 kg/4.4-6.6 pounds) but have the endurance and range to fly over a hundred kilometers and land automatically (usually by parachute) at a specific location. All this is controlled by an onboard flight computer and GPS. Someone on the U.S. side can refuel and launch the UAV on a return trip. Such UAVs can be bought for under $20,000 and used dozens of times. (Austin Bay)
Cartels Are Reportedly Building DIY Drones to Fly Drugs Over the Border | Motherboard
We know that small-fry drones have been used to smuggle illegal drugs and contraband into prisons, and that mobsters used a homemade drone to smuggle cigarettes into Russia. According to various reports, the Mexican drug cartel is also manufacturing drones to transport narcotics over the US border.Mexican cartels building drones to traffic drugs into the US | The Tequila Files
The cartel drone effort was reported by a Missouri drone lawyer last year and the security news site Americas Postes in 2010, and recently resurfaced by Quartz and Robotics Business Review.
Mexico’s most dominant cartel, the Sinaloa Federation has always been quick to grasp the potential of new technology and it has now begun to replace traditional drug “mules” – as those who make the border crossings are known – with a low-risk automated alternative: drones.Drug traffickers are known to have used foreign-built drones since at least 2010, when Mexico’s Public Security Secretariat (SSP) first acknowledged criminal use of ultra-lightweight UAVs to smuggle cocaine into the United States. SSP Undersecretary Francisco Gonzalez said that the planes weighed about 100 pounds and each could transport 100 kilograms of cocaine per trip. Purchased in Colombia for $1,700, each kilo of cocaine would be worth $8,000 in Mexico and could sell for $30,000 in the United States, Gonzalez explained, meaning that traffickers could earn $2 million for every successful voyage.
Mexico deploys Israeli UAVs in war on drug cartels | Homeland Security News Wire
Latin America Herald Tribune reports that the ministry said it paid $23.5 million for each Hermes 450, an unmanned aerial vehicle manufactured by Israel’s Elbit Systems, but it declined to say how many units were purchased.
The Hermes 450, which is being used in the southwestern portion of the United States to watch the border with Mexico, has an electronic system that can provide information in real time and allows the aircraft to fly independently with the help of a GPS system.
Mexican Cartel Tactical Note #21 | Small Wars Journal
Drug cartels in Mexico are making their own drones or unmanned aircraft to smuggle drugs into the United States, for which workers are using companies that have assembly plants in Mexico drones, according to information from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency ( DEA). Narcodrones have been used for drug trafficking on the border with the United States since 2011, some of which have been secured by members of different agencies after being knocked down to cross into U.S. territory ...US drones help fight Mexico drug cartels - El Paso Times
The announcement came the day The New York Times published a story revealing that U.S. agencies have been sending an undetermined number of Global Hawk drones to interior Mexico since last month.
Homeland Security drones flew along the U.S.-Mexico border in past years to gather intelligence on organized crime.
Global Hawks are military drones that have been used for surveillance missions in Afghan istan as well as for relief efforts in natural disaster zones. Global Hawks can look over areas as large as 40,000 square miles.
Mexico to Use Drones Against Drug Cartels - InSight Crime | Organized Crime in the Americas
Mexico’s Navy announced plans to deploy unmanned planes in support of government operations against drug cartels, starting March 2012.
Drug cartels in Mexico today make their own drones to evade security strategies and smuggle drugs into the United States, according to information from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).According to data from the DEA distributed here by local media, unmanned aircraft have been used to smuggle drugs into the U.S. border since 2011, but they were purchased abroad, mainly in Israel.However, that situation has changed since early 2014 with the launch of an own manufacturing process, requiring fewer resources than those used to build tunnels or semisubmerge ships.
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