Drone Carrying Meth Crashes Near San Ysidro Port of Entry

A drone carrying methamphetamine crashed in Mexico near the San Ysidro Port of Entry on Tuesday night.

The unmanned aircraft hauling more than 6 pounds of crystal meth in six packages fell from the sky into the parking lot of a supermarket in Tijuana just before 10 p.m., according to Vicente Calderon, a Tijuana-based freelance journalist for NBC 7.

Tijuana police said an anonymous citizen reported finding the drone in the parking lot.

The packages of drugs were attached to the drone using plastic webbing and strips of black tape, police said.

The aircraft itself had six propellers and a lithium battery.

The drone and the drugs were handed over to Mexican authorities to look into who's responsible for the attempted smuggling.

While smugglers have long used a variety of tactics to shuffle drugs across the border, Calderon said Tijuana police reported that this is the first time smugglers have attempted using drones to pass drugs through the San Ysidro Port of Entry.

Drug trafficking organizations in Mexico have increasingly used drones to transport drugs over the past several years, according to published reports.

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