Tijuana: A drone packed with drugs crashed this week near the US border with Mexico, police in Tijuana announced Wednesday. If reports are to be believed, the remote-controlled aircraft was packed with more than six pounds of crystal meth, divided into six packets.
The six-propeller drone was likely unable to bear the weight of the drugs, police say, causing it to crash into a supermarket parking lot near the San Ysidro crossing along the Mexico-California border. Police have yet to name any suspects.
Jorge Morrua, spokesman for the Tijuana police, said that this isn’t the first time authorities have seen drones used for drug smuggling. Last year, a source at the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) told a Mexican news outlet that in 2012, drug-packed drones made at least 150 attempts to cross the border.
The technology has been used to transport drugs away from the border, as well. Last year, a drone crashed while attempting to transport marijuana to a South Carolina maximum security prison, and a man in Australia was arrested for making a similar attempt near a Melbourne prison.