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I remember someone flying one full of meth into the side of the Tijuana Costco. https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/border-baja-california/sdut-drugs-dro

I remember someone flying one full of meth into the side of the Tijuana Costco. https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/border-baja-california/sdut-drugs-drone-crashes-2015jan21-story.html https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/border-baja-califo... I always thought drones would bring down the violence in Mexico, since it would be easier to keep your distribution network under the radar. If you don't have to recruit hundreds of people to actually drive the drugs across the border, and can fly it over the fence in the middle of the night, what would be the reason for anybody to be shooting anybody. Whoever's turf you were operating in wouldn't even know you were operating on their turf because your whole operation could be just two white-collar-type guys keeping a really low-key presence. The rise of the narco-technocrats. But, I guess it didn't go that way.

nip180 6y ago
This is an oversimplification of what the drug cartels do. The Cartels are the only buyer and seller of significance in Mexico, two narco-technocrats couldn’t get enough cocaine to import to make a difference without their buy in
- phobosanomaly 6y ago
  I think what you're saying makes sense. I just want to pull out the idea a bit more. Mexico is a country with a massive informal economy. For every McDonalds that operates in the formal sector, there are millions of small business operators who are totally off the radar. The cartel is the McDonalds. The narco-technocrats are the thousands of taco carts off the metro crammed into every corner of Mexico City. Two technocrats, sure, they wouldn't break the bank. But it's not tremendously difficult to get a package across the Guatemalan border, drive it up to Tijuana, and have your cousin with a drone fly it across the border where your other cousin picks it up on the other side. There's no overhead. There's no need to pay protection money. There's no need to pay off police. There's no psychos in your organization calling attention to you. This is the same thing that happened with black tar heroin distribution in the United States. A low-key family operation run by guys from the same small town in Mexico. They were revolutionary because they flew completely under the radar. No guns, no violence. Just earning a buck to send home to mom and dad. Ref: Dreamland by Sam Quinones
renewiltord 6y ago
How come they don't use artillery to launch? Does it damage the product? Too hard to aim? Wonder if you could ship drugs by just mortar with radio transmitter embedded. Way greater capacity and practically undetectable at landing site unless you have the receiver.
- phobosanomaly 6y ago
  I know they've used catapults. https://www.cnn.com/2017/02/15/us/marijuana-catapult-trnd/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2017/02/15/us/marijuana-catapult-trnd/in...
  - hamburglar 6y ago
    > This is just the latest example of drug smugglers' ingenuity, or more accurately, the ingenuity of the authorities who caught them. Talk about blowing smoke. Border patrol saw these guys using a catapult to hurl drugs over the border and took their catapult. Where's the "ingenuity" on the part of the authorities? I think a catapult is a great idea. Now I want to design a pumpkin chucker that hurls a steerable projectile for extra precision.

nip180 6y ago

This is an oversimplification of what the drug cartels do. The Cartels are the only buyer and seller of significance in Mexico, two narco-technocrats couldn’t get enough cocaine to import to make a difference without their buy in

phobosanomaly 6y ago
I think what you're saying makes sense. I just want to pull out the idea a bit more. Mexico is a country with a massive informal economy. For every McDonalds that operates in the formal sector, there are millions of small business operators who are totally off the radar. The cartel is the McDonalds. The narco-technocrats are the thousands of taco carts off the metro crammed into every corner of Mexico City. Two technocrats, sure, they wouldn't break the bank. But it's not tremendously difficult to get a package across the Guatemalan border, drive it up to Tijuana, and have your cousin with a drone fly it across the border where your other cousin picks it up on the other side. There's no overhead. There's no need to pay protection money. There's no need to pay off police. There's no psychos in your organization calling attention to you. This is the same thing that happened with black tar heroin distribution in the United States. A low-key family operation run by guys from the same small town in Mexico. They were revolutionary because they flew completely under the radar. No guns, no violence. Just earning a buck to send home to mom and dad. Ref: Dreamland by Sam Quinones

renewiltord 6y ago

How come they don't use artillery to launch? Does it damage the product? Too hard to aim? Wonder if you could ship drugs by just mortar with radio transmitter embedded. Way greater capacity and practically undetectable at landing site unless you have the receiver.

phobosanomaly 6y ago
I know they've used catapults. https://www.cnn.com/2017/02/15/us/marijuana-catapult-trnd/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2017/02/15/us/marijuana-catapult-trnd/in...
- hamburglar 6y ago
  > This is just the latest example of drug smugglers' ingenuity, or more accurately, the ingenuity of the authorities who caught them. Talk about blowing smoke. Border patrol saw these guys using a catapult to hurl drugs over the border and took their catapult. Where's the "ingenuity" on the part of the authorities? I think a catapult is a great idea. Now I want to design a pumpkin chucker that hurls a steerable projectile for extra precision.