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Drug Cartels Now Using UAVs

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Re: Drug Cartels Now Using UAVs

#21

Post by SoftwareMaven »

gvb wrote: post #4

Ultralights, not UAVs. The picture of the downed ultralight clearly has a pilot seat and instrumentation. The only place UAV is mentioned in the article is an editorial addition to a quote from the sensor vendor "[unmanned aerial vehicles]". If you follow the link to the vendor site, you will find the vendor advertises their sensor as an adjunct to "unmanned aerial systems", i.e. the boarder patrol's UAVs, not the sm…

It was obviously an ultralight, but how do we know it wasn't converted an an unmanned vehicle. I can't imagine it would be hard to convert one to use radio controlled servos. Not having a pilot would free up a lot of weight for the shipment. The shipments they talk about are 250lbs, which is the same as the regulated amount ultralights are allowed to carry. The cartels wouldn't care about the regulations, obviously, but they would care about not over-stressing the engineering limits of the aircraft which would risk losing $400k to $16M in product (if the article is correct) if it crashed.

Re: Drug Cartels Now Using UAVs

#22

Post by SoftwareMaven »

jamierothfeder wrote: post #5
InclinedPlane wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not legalize all of the drugs? We've proven that we can't stop people from using drugs. What advantage is there in ensuring that the billions spent on drugs gets funneled into the hands of hardened criminals?

Imagine our elected representatives trying to come up with laws, regulations, tax policies, public health issues (think big tabacco), arrests (there are currently many more alcohol related arrests than drug related arrests). Not saying that this isn't something that shouldn't be considered, just pointing out that it isn't without cost.

Treat them like alcohol. They already have all the answers to those questions solved for it, and, in some cases (driving while impaired, for instance), they already are treated mostly the same.

Re: Drug Cartels Now Using UAVs

#23

Post by alberich »

lwat wrote: post #20
base698 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can get Columbian coffee for $7/pound in a grocery store in the US. It can't be that much different in the raw manufacturing costs.

The manufacturing cost is about zero but there are other costs, like transport.

Indeed....

"There’s a reason coke and heroin cost so much more on the street than at the farm gate: you’re not paying for the drugs; you’re compensating everyone along the distribution chain for the risks they assumed in getting them to you. Smugglers often negotiate, in actuarial detail, about who will be held liable in the event of lost inventory. After a bust, arrested traffickers have been known to demand a receipt from authorities, so that they can prove the loss was not because of their own negligence (which would mean they might have to pay for it) or their own thievery (which would mean they might have to die). Some Colombian cartels have actually offered insurance policies on narcotics, as a safeguard against loss or seizure."(source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/17/magazine/how-a-mexican-dru...)

Re: Drug Cartels Now Using UAVs

#24

Post by twelvechairs »

SoftwareMaven wrote: post #21
gvb wrote: post #4

Ultralights, not UAVs. The picture of the downed ultralight clearly has a pilot seat and instrumentation. The only place UAV is mentioned in the article is an editorial addition to a quote from the sensor vendor "[unmanned aerial vehicles]". If you follow the link to the vendor site, you will find the vendor advertises their sensor as an adjunct to "unmanned aerial systems", i.e. the boarder patrol's UAVs, not the sm…

It was obviously an ultralight, but how do we know it wasn't converted an an unmanned vehicle. I can't imagine it would be hard to convert one to use radio controlled servos. Not having a pilot would free up a lot of weight for the shipment. The shipments they talk about are 250lbs, which is the same as the regulated amount ultralights are allowed to carry. The cartels wouldn't care about the regulations, obviously,…

> how do we know it wasn't converted an an unmanned vehicle

We don't, but I don't think anyone would be considering that had 'UAV' not been in the HN post's title (whilst not in the link's own title or description of the vehicle).

Re: Drug Cartels Now Using UAVs

#26

Post by hessenwolf »

alberich wrote: post #23
lwat wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The manufacturing cost is about zero but there are other costs, like transport.

Indeed.... "There’s a reason coke and heroin cost so much more on the street than at the farm gate: you’re not paying for the drugs; you’re compensating everyone along the distribution chain for the risks they assumed in getting them to you. Smugglers often negotiate, in actuarial detail, about who will be held liable in the event of lost inventory. After a bust, arrested traffickers have been known to demand a recei…

This reminds me of the buccaneering articles in Rafael Sabatini's 'Captain Blood'. So nothing has changed, I see...

Re: Drug Cartels Now Using UAVs

#27

Post by jeffool »

electic wrote: post #16

A simple UAV is not far off and I am sure they are working on it. You can bet your bottom dollar on it. It is a very interesting problem to solve. The U.S. government has to deal with subs, tunnels, and now ultralights.

I agree. A few Google searches and I can find out how to extend the rage of a AR.Drone to over 2 kilometers.[0] If they're serious about their business they're doing the same thing. Slap a prepaid cell phone on it, start up any of the popular webstreaming apps[1], and bam. You're in business.

You can fly it to a drop, check the landing space for friendly faces, and hit a back-up spot if things don't look good. Or, if you're good, just fly it into someone's back yard. It may be more costly than having someone run drugs, but at least drones can't talk (save the login and broadcast info they show, I suppose.)

And if I can think of something like this, I'd expect them to have money on actually solving their problems.

[0] http://dronehacks.com/2011/08/21/ar-drone-rc-mod-extends-fli... [1] http://livestream.com

Re: Drug Cartels Now Using UAVs

#28

Post by shell0x »

serious question: Are these drug cartels really more dangerous than our governments and lobbies and the financial mafia? If you would try to sell oil and the other big players would make less money then you would probably have an accident.

Re: Drug Cartels Now Using UAVs

#29

Post by [deleted] »

sliverstorm wrote: post #13
InclinedPlane wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not legalize all of the drugs? We've proven that we can't stop people from using drugs. What advantage is there in ensuring that the billions spent on drugs gets funneled into the hands of hardened criminals?

There's a lot of different arguments. I can't remember them all, but the first one that comes to mind is the hope that legalizing softer drugs would reduce demand for harder, still-illegal drugs. Especially if legalization reduces prices of the softer drugs. This could be powerful, for example, if we identify that a certain drug is fairly safe but its relatives are not. Legalize the safer form, not the dangerous form…

[deleted]
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