Cartel drones at US border

Transnational drug cartels are using drones to track the movement of U.S. BORDER PATROL agents near the southern US border according to federal officials in El Paso, Texas.

The practice was first disclosed to the public last September when Mexican authorities, acting on a tip from U.S. officials, arrested two drone operators near the border wall in Juarez, Mexico. “We see the drones every day. The cartels use the drones to identify where the authorities are and how they can manage entries,” said Walter N. Slosar, the newly appointed interim Chief Agent of the US BORDER PATROL’s El Paso Sector. “We are trying to identify exactly where they are to stop that tactic.”

Mexican cartels also carried out a bomb attack last month using a drone against Mexican National Guard troops in southern Chihuahua. The cartels also have been known to use drones to bomb rivals and towns in Michoacan and Guerrero states.

There are also reports that drug cartels have ordered their members to attack US BORDER PATROL agents and vehicles with kamikaze drones and other explosives in a bid to disrupt the crackdown at the US border.

"Mapping and Profiling the Most Threatening Criminal Networks in Latin America and the Caribbean" is by Jeremy McDermott and Steven Dudley, co-Funders and co-Directors of InSight Crime.
This report was funded by the European Union. It was produced with the contribution of the following institutions: Expertise France, InSight Crime, European Multidisciplinary Platform against Criminal Threats – EMPACT.