Marijuana “Catapult” at U.S.-Mexico Border

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The war on drugs between the United States and Mexico takes a medieval twist as the U.S. border patrol works together with the Mexican army to confiscate a catapult.

Surveillance cameras on the Arizona/Mexico border led to the capture of drug smugglers trying a new approach to get drugs into the U.S. – an

On Friday January 21, 2010 National Guards at the Naco Border Patrol Station, which is about 80 miles southeast of Tucson Arizona, noticed some suspicious activity in their surveillance cameras.pot-catapult

Late in the evening, they saw several people preparing a catapult and launching objects over the International Border fence. The National Guard and Border agents immediately contacted the Mexican authorities to go and investigate.

In one clip of the surveillance video that is floating around the web. You can see a group of men preparing to test the huge contraption. They would pull down the metal beam and load it, attempting to snap the powerful elastic band. The catapult was mounted on a trailer, which was dragged to the International Fence of the U.S./Mexican border.

Tucson sector Border Patrol spokesman David Jimarez commented on the situation, “I have not seen anything like that in my time as a Border Patrol agent … although we are trained to handle any kind of threat that comes over that border.”

Mexican military in the 45th military zone in the border state of Sonora arrived at the scene; they discovered a 3 meter tall catapult that was about 20 meters away from the U.S. border. The catapult was on a flatbed that was towed by a 4WD sports utility vehicle.

The marijuana catapult was used to launch 4.4 pound packages of Marijuana over the fence.  The Mexican soldiers seized 35 pounds of Marijuana, the 4WD sports utility vehicle, and the catapult contraption on the flat bed. The perpetrators left the scene before they could be captured.

A second catapult was recent apprehended near Agua Prieta, which is another border town. Army officials say they got a tip from anonymous sources that lead them to the scene of second catapult.

The Latest Method of a Resourceful Group

Mexican drug cartels have been using planes, vehicles, boats, couriers, and tunnels to smuggle drugs into the United States. In November 2010 in Otay Mesa California, in San Diego County authorities discovered a tunnel that measured a mile in length and was as deep as 90 feet. The tunnel was equipped with electricity, ventilation and a rail system.

After authorities raided this particular tunnel, they confiscated 20 tons of Marijuana. Immigration and Customs Enforcement estimates the tunnel cost cartels a couple of million dollars to build. This is just one example of the many tunnels that have been raided along the U.S./Mexican border line.

As long as there is demand for narcotics, cartels will continue to create inventive new was to smuggle drugs.

Colombian drug traffickers have even been know to build homemade submarines to get smuggle drugs across borders.

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