Drone Carrying Meth Crashes Near US - Mexico Border

So reports U-T San Diego. The article begins:

A small aerial drone crashed about two miles from the U.S. border in Mexico carrying several pounds of methamphetamine, Mexican police said Wednesday. 

The discovery at a shopping mall parking lot in Tijuana, within walking distance of the U.S. border crossing, raises the prospect of a new, high-tech front in the struggle between drug gangs and law enforcement.

In a previous post, I highlighted how drones have been used in attempts to smuggle contraband into prisons.

Politicians may use this incident to call for increased regulations on drones, but this would probably be an overreaction. The article goes on to note that drones are a poor choice for would-be drug smugglers:

Amy Roderick, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in San Diego, said drones provide little economic incentive for smugglers. 

“This method will only allow a small amount of drugs to be flown at a time,” she said. “That coupled with the ease of detection, does not make this method very profitable to these drug trafficking organizations whose motivation is money.”

It will be interesting to see if drug-carrying-drone incidents become more commonplace. Drones are indeed easy to detect and incapable of carrying heavy loads. But drone technology is becoming increasingly popular, and I suspect that there are at least several dim-witted, trendy drug smugglers who will turn to this technology.