This DJI Mini 2 Drone Smuggled Its Own Weight In Meth Over The US Border

Many people have sought to dodge border controls to sneak in things such as weapons. However, as technology progresses, criminal organisations have continued to embrace innovative means of smuggling, such as employing inexpensive, small consumer drones to fly over borders and drop off drugs.

The US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) recently granted a warrant to search a DJI Mini 2 drone confiscated by officials in October last year while attempting to deliver narcotics.

On October 7th, according to the warrant, Tecate’s Campo Border Patrol Station radioed that the DJI Mini 2 was seen flying beyond the 25-foot-high border fence. The US Border Patrol then observed it hover over a parking area on the other side of the barrier and land before a grey Mercedes arrived with someone to pick it up.

Officials promptly apprehended the drone before the driver could collect it. The DJI Mini 2 drone was discovered with 256g of methamphetamine, which was more than its own weight of 249g, although numerous others have previously shown recordings showing it lifting to double its own weight.

The search warrant does not state if DJI, the Chinese drone manufacturer, must provide information on the person who flew the drone; nonetheless, it appears that the agent is just demanding data forensics on the drone and its microSD card.

“It is common for human / narcotics smuggling organisations in this area to use drones to fly over the boundary fence and assist and/or facilitate their criminal operations in the United States,” the agent stated of the arrest.

There have been a few reports of failed drone drug deliveries near the border dating back a long time, but the drone photographs are primarily of outdated, bulkier models. A man was “suspected of using a drone in an attempt to smuggle drugs” into an Orange County jail in September, and a possible drug-running DJI Mini drone was seized in Costa Mesa, California.