Mexican cartels use drones to transport drugs to El Paso and conduct surveillance

A federal official in El Paso, Texas, recently confirmed statements by a Mexican law enforcement official that drug cartels are using drones to transport drugs into the United States, Border Report reported.

On Thursday, Chihuahua Public Safety Director Gilberto Loya said he is seeing an increase in the use of drones by Mexican drug cartels flying drugs into El Paso.

“We have 15 countermeasures against drones.”

He said: “Near the (Big Red X) monument they have used drones to move drug packages and deliver them to the other side.”

The monument, about 100 meters south of the border, is also known as Plaza de la Mexicanidad.

Loya also noted that cartels in Juarez, Mexico, are using the drones to monitor law enforcement activities on both sides of the border and “as a guide for migrants entering the United States,” KTSM reported, translating his remarks.

A U.S. federal official told Border Report that drug drones have been found in the area. However, the official could not provide details on the number of drones or what types of narcotics are being transported.

The news outlet noted that the Juarez cartels are primarily known for trafficking methamphetamine.

Despite the official’s confirmations, the Border Report noted that federal officials in El Paso could not verify whether drones are crossing the U.S. border or whether they are being used to guide illegal immigrants.

Loya reported that his team shot down several drones in the mountains of Chihuahua, near the US-Mexico border.

“We have 15 countermeasures against drones. Some force the drone to return, some completely cut the signal so it falls to the ground, and some simply follow the drone to its base,” he noted.

Last month, a leaked bulletin from the U.S. Border Patrol’s Yuma Sector Intelligence Unit warned that Mexican cartels were using drones to “drop explosives” on rival gangs, Blaze News previously reported.

Air Force Gen. Gregory Guillot told the Senate Defense Committee earlier this year that there are “more than 1,000” drone incursions near the border each month.

“I haven’t seen them pose a threat to national defense, but I only see the potential increasing,” he told lawmakers.

As authorities report an increase in drone activity along the southern border, law enforcement officials in Juarez are trying to thwart cartel attacks on their surveillance cameras, Border Report said.

Loya told reporters Thursday that authorities recently installed 11 cameras on the streets of Juarez to monitor the cartel’s activities. Since then, cartel members have reportedly shot at the cameras and hit them with hammers. In another instance, they allegedly set fire to a utility pole to destroy the equipment.

“Organized crime feels threatened by this system that is being installed throughout the state,” Loya said.

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