Drug-filled Mexican planes land nightly along southern border despite $100 million sensor technology

The Washington Examiner ^ | June 27, 2013 | SUSAN FERRECHIO

[yoe]

In one California border town, at least four drug-laden, ultralight airplanes from Mexico land each night on U.S. soil, dropping off hundreds of pounds of narcotics then flying back to Mexico, all the while eluding a $100 million detection system funded by American taxpayers.

The U.S. Border Patrol’s inability to find and catch these planes, operated by the Mexican drug cartels and sometimes piloted by armed dealers, is among the emerging border security threats a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing will tackle on Thursday.

The panel wants to highlight growing border security problems as Congress debates immigration reform legislation that includes provisions aimed at bolstering border security...

[snip] Chaffetz learned about the deluge of the home-built drug planes crossing the into the United States during a visit earlier this year to border areas in Arizona and Mexico.

Border patrol agents told him that despite the hefty price tag paid for the sensors, they are not helping agents stop the ultralights. The planes land in border towns all along the Mexican border, including El Centro, California, where multiple air drops happen every night.

[MNDude]

the Mexican government essentially is the drug cartel. When you see the Mexican government taking down drug dealers, you’ll notice that it’s always from the same cartels (competitors), and not their sponsored ones.

[cherry]

the only reason drugs get into this country in such mass quantities is because some big shots are making big money...govt people taking kickbacks...

with all our drones and the nsa etc..there is no way in heaven these planes are just "missed"...

[Redleg Duke]

That, Sir, is an excellent idea!

[elkfersupper]

Prohibition fosters innovation and creates massive amounts of wealth for the wrong people.

Just look at the Kennedy clan.

[Oatka]

It wouldn’t be hard to use IR to spot them. After that ...

[SMARTY]

Ha... sounds like a plan.

In the end, with Liberals incessantly pushing for complete freedom from personal and individual responsibility ...it could likely BE the final position on dangerous drugs!

[Ajnin]

We we see them all the time. We just aren’t allowed to do anything about it.

[Count of Monte Fisto]

Legal for gays to marry, legal for people to kill themselves with drugs, etc.

Make drugs legal but also make it legal, as it once was, for people to keep dopers out of their neighborhood or town or city.

[chrisser]

Make drugs legal but also make it legal, as it once was, for people to keep dopers out of their neighborhood or town or city.

I've often wondered if the logical extension of the gated community will be the fortressed town, small city, perhaps business district.

The way things are going, it's going to make more and more sense, assuming Fedzilla doesn't get offended by the idea.

You could justify it for a lot of reasons - crime, benefits, tax policy, drugs, disease, or just the desire to live amongst like-minded individuals. Any reason would be magically turned into racism, of course.

[fireman15]

We have a 25 year old home-built ultralight, a skypup. It is made out of wood Styrofoam and fabric. It is powered by a single cylinder Rotax 277 snowmobile engine. It is extremely easy to fly and will land and take off in a couple hundred feet. It is incredibly fun. Mine is painted like the one in the picture below, but I don't have a windshield.

http://www.ultralightnews.com/plansbuyerguide/images/skypup.jpg

[Kenny Bunk]

Manned ultralights and microlights flying Nap of the Earth at 75-100 feet are not going to be visible to a lot of radar. Some of these things are plastic and wood with tiny (leaf-blower or weed wacker) engines. They would have the radar profile of a bird. If the pilot knew the canyons ....

Unmanned aircraft might even be smaller. 2-3 kilos, 6.5-10 lbs. is not much of a load to carry, or to lose. Yeah, this is a real problem.

www.lazair.com/‎

[Count of Monte Fisto]

I've often wondered if the logical extension of the gated community will be the fortressed town, small city, perhaps business district.

For most of history towns and cities were walled to keep the barbarians out. Americans didn't need walls because we dealt with barbarians ruthlessly. Now the captured US government punishes us for daring to maintain our civilization.

It will get so bad that indeed we will see the return of wall off cities but it will only be for connected Big Government/Big Corporation types and their fellow travelers.

[VRW Conspirator]

Ooooo, daddy like! I want one of those.

[tumblindice]

“lack of desire”

Nail, meet hammer. We’ve all heard the expression, ‘Where there’s a will there’s a way.’

As far as illegals and drugs go, there’s no will to stop them from the Down Low Won and his choom gang, Janet, Eric, et al.
They send them guns, wave them through. It would make a murder of crows blush, but not these birds.

[gura]

[UCANSEE2]

Those ‘sensors’ are only to detect the ‘drug traffic’ so the FEDS can be assured they get their ‘due cut’ off the traffickers.

[varyouga]

The cartels can build their own drones for $10-20,000. All they need is a GPS and satellite data phone to remotely pilot. A small 100lb payload of hard drugs has a street value of at least $2 MILLION so money is no object.

These things can be built from PVC and nylon sheets and powered by a tiny lawnmower engine. Practically no radar and hear signature.

The product costs pennies to make in the jungle and sells for more than gold in the streets. For that reason, it can NEVER be stopped.

All attempts at ramping up the WOD will simply result in more profits for bootleggers and less rights for us. But hey, maybe that was the plan all along...

[Oatka]

And let's not forget the quad 20MMs:

[randog]

The profit on one haul dwarfs the cost of the ultralight which can be abandoned.

Ultralights aren't all the expensive, are they? I wonder what the max payload is.

[randog]

<>All they need is a GPS and satellite data phone to remotely pilot.

And what's to keep the border patrol (or someone like me) from setting up jammers?