The future of drug smuggling lies not with stomachs lined with coke-filled condoms or baboons ferrying floating smack balloon parcels, but with high-flying drones. Or at least, it would if the dealers could keep the things from crashing.
U.S. border police on Tuesday evening received a tip off that a drone had crashed in a Mexican shopping centre car park in Tijuana. A Spreading Wings 900, among the wreckage was found 2.7kg of methamphetamine, worth roughly $1,500. While the model has a battery life of 18 minutes, enough to travel considerable distances, it seems the greedy dealers (still at large) had weighed the drone down too heavily, causing the crash.
Border authorities estimate that around 150 drones have been smuggling drugs into the U.S. since 2012, and with the technology only becoming more sophisticated, they’re going to become an increasing problem for drug enforcement agents around the world. Can a drone get done for possession? [Mashable]
This post originally appeared on Gizmodo UK, which is gobbling up the news in a different timezone.
