A drone carrying 6.6 pounds of methamphetamine that crashed in a supermarket parking lot in Mexico near the California border this week probably doesn't signify a popular new method for transporting drugs, reports Time. But it's a reminder that cartels can use the increasingly popular aircraft just like any other business. It wasn't the first time drones have been used to smuggle drugs across the border, though a federal law enforcement spokesman calls it “an isolated incident.”
The drone that crashed was carrying meth valued at about $40,000. It wouldn't make sense for a cartel to send millions of drones across the border carrying tiny amounts of any drug when they could transport hundreds or even thousands of pounds in a commercial vehicle, according to a DEA spokesman, who said, “It's like the post office sending one letter at a time.” The U.S. has begun using its own drones to patrol the border.