New Mexico bill targets cartel drone activity with support from Mexico
By John Rupolo
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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KOAT) — The Secretary of Public Safety for the state of Chihuahua, Mexico, Gilberto Loya Chavez and leaders of the New Mexico Organized Crime Commission urged support for Senate Bill 136. The bill would make crack down on illicit cartel drone activity along the border.
“We’re having thousands of incursions and thousands of illegal flights in New Mexico, that we’re monitoring law enforcement, trying to find protected information being used in the furtherance of drug trafficking and human trafficking,” said Rob Hart of the Organized Crime Commission.
The New Mexico Organized Crime Commission released a video Thursday showing a cartel-operated drone tracking a Mexican law enforcement convoy in Chihuahua, Mexico, and dropping an explosive device that seriously injured officers.
“We know these drones have been used specifically to attack human beings. That’s on that side of the border, on this side of the border. We know drones are absolutely being used to do surveillance,” said Sam Bregman, the Bernallilo County district attorney.
Cartels are also using drones to smuggle drugs into New Mexico, and currently, there are no state laws addressing drones being used criminally.
Bregman emphasized the urgency of the situation, saying, “So this needs to be addressed. And I can’t tell you that this is really one of those urgent things that we need to get done.”
The bill still has to make its way through the Senate to reach the governor’s desk. We reached out to Senate Republicans but they had no comment about the bill.
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