Drug smugglers are increasingly turning to drones to find weak spots on the U.S.-Mexico border, according to the U.S. Department of Customs and Border Protection. Border Patrol officials have reported more than three dozen unmanned aircraft sightings along the border since October 2017.
There were over 1,700 reports of suspicious drone activity in 2016 and this number reflects the adoption of the new technology by drug smugglers to carry out several different activities. Smugglers can not only use drones to identify weak spots in U.S. border security but may also use drones to smuggle drugs into the United States.
The true number of drone flights by smugglers is unknown and is most likely much higher than the number of those reported. Most drones are small and hard to detect, meaning that the majority of flights could be unreported and their usage may be more common than we know.
Drug smugglers have traditionally used manned aircraft to fly drugs across the border into the United States from Mexico, but drones present a more attractive option. Unmanned aircraft are harder to detect on radar or by border patrol agents and remove a pilot’s risk of being caught. The drones are smaller and can fly at lower altitudes, making them harder to be detected and intercepted by border patrol aircraft.
In August 2017, U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported that a drone made it across the border carrying a plastic bag with 13 pounds of methamphetamine in it. A 25-year-old man was sentenced in January to twelve years in prison for flying the drone over the border checkpoint between San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico.
Drones are available for purchase both in stores and online and can be obtained by almost anyone. Most drones carry cameras that allow users to observe ground activity from the air and smugglers can use this form of video surveillance to monitor the routines of U.S. border patrol agents, identify new avenues on the ground to cross the border as well as to carry drugs, cash, and weapons into America.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has taken steps to defend against drones by adopting a product created by the Defense Department. The Lightweight Surveillance Target Acquisition Radar, or LSTAR, is better at detecting small aircraft than traditional systems. The system is in place in Arizona and three other locations will receive it this year.
Drones used by CBP could ultimately play a vital role in securing the U.S.-Mexico border. In addition to the physical wall President Donald Trump has promised to build, a “virtual wall” patrolled by drones and other detection systems could nicely compliment the President’s border security initiatives.
The United States made extensive use of drones to stop weapons smugglers crossing from Iran into Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom. U.S. military unmanned aerial vehicles used video surveillance to detect border crossings by military-aged males and were able to direct U.S. and Coalition ground forces to intercept and detain them. Many arrests were made during 2008 and 2009 in this manner and it is believed that this contributed to the decline in the level of violence in Iraq during that period.
