The border drone drama was recently highlighted when a quadcopter carrying three kilos of methamphetamine landed in a market parking lot in the border town of Tijuana, Mexico.

Three kilos is 6.6 lbs. The weight was too much for the design, supposedly a prototype. It had been flying on a GPS course to a predetermined landing site.

 DEA has estimated that drones have been making one hundred fifty trips a year. The failure of the three-kilo flight just highlighted the phenomenon.

Cartels like drones because they are cheaper to build than submarines. Experts say twenty-four drones can be built for the price of one sub. Some are carried in semi trailers with wings folded like carrier aircraft. One group in South America is experimenting with a cardboard version. All are nearly invisible on radar.

Squadrons of these pilotless aircraft can be flown to various GPS points at the same time. This has created a new distribution term known as the swarm effect. Cartel members in the U.S. will know where to look because of the prearranged GPS landing sites. But the DEA indicates that the swarm effect, because of its scattered pattern will probably limit the number of drones that will be recovered by their personnel.

The primary Mexican source for high-end drone aircraft is located in the Santa Fe District of Mexico City. It’s super lux high-rise neighborhood where drone production lines are said to exist. I guess this is how the rich get richer.

My name is Wally Runnels and I write Border Pulp.