Border Patrol Says Use On The Rise

Yuma Sector Border Patrol Agents say the latest twist in bringing illegal drugs from Mexico to the U.S. is ultralight aircraft, after one didn't make it last Saturday. As smugglers find it increasingly difficult to drive across the border, they're becoming increasingly desparate, says one Border Patrol agent, and they're looking for creative ways to make the trip.

Border Patrol Supervisory Agent Ben Vik said this is the second time this type of aircraft has been caught trying to bring drugs in to Yuma from Mexico, and in one of those incidents, the pilot was killed. But other areas around New Mexico are also reporting increased smuggling activity using ultralights. TV station KWST reports that two have also crashed near Tuscon.

Ultralights are popular sport aircraft, though the FAA refers to them as "ultralight air vehicles", in part because they are relatively inexpensive to buy and operate, are limited in their regulatory scope, and don't require several hundred feet of concrete to go flying. Unfortunately, those same qualities make them attractive to smugglers, who see them as disposable. Authorities say the tiny aircraft are used to bring the drugs across the border where they're transferred to larger airplanes.

Still, while smugglers may think the ultralights fly low and slow enough to avoid detection,  Vik said there are two ways for Border Patrol Agents to track the flights. One is simply seeing the aircraft, but the Patrol also uses ground-based radar stationed in mobile trucks. Because the aircraft fly over the border fences yet under the typical airport radar, ground-tracking devices are often needed to find them. 

Saturday's crash involved a single-place ultralight, carrying 275 pounds of marijuana in two separate bales, according to the Yuma Sun. Both the aircraft and the drugs were seized by the Border Patrol, but the pilot was able to escape.

Agents say two other people have been arrested in connection with the incident.

FMI: www.usua.org