MEXICO- A police commander found a armed drone in the patio of his house, when he was preparing to get some fresh air and rest from his professional work in Tecate, Baja California. More confused than fearful, he approached the device and what he saw left him speechless: two grenades and a note.
“Stop meddling in our business,” he warned with a calligraphy that seemed more scribble than anything serious, but there it was: one of the first intimidations that came forward since 2017, what would it be? the new strategy of criminal organizations: the use of flight technology against those who are in the way.
Anyone can get in the way of their criminal plans for drug trafficking and territory control: police, military, politicians, self-defense groups, rival groups and even residents of disputed sites.
A report from the Secretary of National Defense (Sedena) that was recently endorsed by the Security Commission of the Chamber of Deputies, documented that there is an increase in the use of drones in the country: since 2020 there have been 605 attacks, mainly in Michoacán, Guerrero and Tamaulipas, although no entity is exempt.
Before the date of the report that the military made public, the media documented thatSome of the first targets were law enforcement officers. Among other cases, in Aguililla, Michoacán, two police officers who were clearing a blocked highway were attacked by bombs activated from a drone. Both were injured.
Other cases were publications of the cartels on social networks. In Tecate, Baja California, on July 10, 2018; in Puebla on April 26 and 27, 2020; Tepalcatepec, Michoacán, on July 25, 2020; Aguililla, Michoacán, on April 20, 2021; San Andrés Cholula, Puebla, on April 22, 2021; and Tepalcatepec, Michoacán on May 4, 2021.
In most of these attacks the objective seemed to be against square enemies, but in more recent times, entire communities have been attacked, as happened six times this year in the Nuevo Poblado el Caracol community, in the municipality of Heliodoro Castillo, in the Sierra de Guerrero, where two people have died.
The last of these attacks was on Saturday, August 26 at noon, according to the Minerva Bello Center for the Rights of Victims of Violence, in charge of the priest Filiberto Velázquez.
“The level of control is such that they paralyze people with pure drones: they no longer know whether to leave or stay,” warned the priest. “They don’t even have enough to eat and they need medicine: we have taken them in a caravan but we run the risk of being exposed to the level of technology to control the plazas.”
In this area there are marijuana and poppy crops and attempts have been made to introduce coca leaves.
USES AND CHALLENGES
Over the years, criminal organizations have given the most varied uses to drones with little investment (costs are around $550 in the Mexican market); they can be to observe, scout and gather intelligence to support their own operations with infantry units, anti-tank weapons, rocket-propelled grenades, plus .50 caliber anti-materiel rifles and machine guns of various calibers, according to Insight Crime.
International crime investigation experts point out that the cartels also they are using drone video for propaganda and related operationsstill images and videos to broadcast their narratives among the country’s population and respond to governments just as they have done for decades in their social media posts.
“This message can address both patronage issues, such as those related to social banditry and the archetypes of the benevolent boss (jefe de plaza), as well as those related to conflict and barbarism, including what can be considered the application of narco-terrorism tactics. and ongoing psychological abuse.”
In its analysis Drones and organized crime, the consultancy IntelBrief warned that the cartels are recruiting “brigades” of specialized personnel into their ranks and suggested paying attention to the kidnapping of engineers or engineering students with skills in handling drones and telecommunications.
Among the measures that the Mexican government has taken to deal with the problem was to put pressure on the Chinese government to restrict the export of the artifacts, since most of the seizures from the Sedena had the stamp “made in china.”
Another measure includes a bill by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador that is currently under discussion in the Chamber of Deputies to increase the penalties for the use of this technology, although the main focus of attention is elsewhere:
Precisely in the lack of personnel in the various police corporations to undertake a counterattack with other drones.
In mid-August, the National Guard reported in a statement that it will allocate around 13.5 million dollars to a fleet of aerial and aquatic drones, “the purchase of its largest type ever registered in the country” with which it wants to strengthen security operations. monitoring and combating drug cartels, and even organizations dedicated to kidnapping and extortion.
In this crisis, various police corporations have recognized that they do not have enough trained personnel, unlike the cartels that are leading them in the use of this technology. The same national guard acknowledged last year that it was only going to train 24 members of its General Intelligence Directorate.
Drone pilots need training in UAV technology, he reported. This is photogrammetry, mapping and R3D with drones; flight path, image survey and ground control and image processing with Pix4D.
In international experiences, the British police reported that the main challenge they have had in dealing with the use of drones by criminals is that it is not easy to identify the pilot of these remote-controlled devices. In addition, the drones are tampered with to erase the data on the flight and still do not succeed; on other occasions, they detain the person suspected of driving, but not the device.
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