HomeNewsBriefMexico's Army Finds Catapults Used to Fire Drugs into US
BRIEF

Mexico's Army Finds Catapults Used to Fire Drugs into US

MEXICO / 2 NOV 2011 BY JEANNA CULLINAN EN

For the second time this year, Mexican authorities have found catapults used by drug traffickers to fling marijuana across the U.S.-Mexico border fence.

Responding to an anonymous tip, troops from Mexico’s army discovered two portable catapults, along with more than a ton of marijuana, at a residence in Agua Prieta, close to the Arizona border.

These kind of low-tech means to get drugs across the border, like packaging drugs to fit through gaps in the fence, illustrates the shortcomings of the border fence as a means to stop traffickers.

In January, InSight Crime featured a video of another catapult confiscated by troops in the area. As the site pointed out, this kind of mechanism is particularly useful for marijuana, as the drug is more bulky and hard to smuggle than heroin and cocaine.

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

CANADA / 13 DEC 2021

The story of the Mexican cartels and their influence abroad has mostly focused on the United States. But a number…

DRUG POLICY / 10 MAY 2023

Mexico's regulations concerning precursor chemicals is strong on paper, but rampant corruption means this is essentially meaningless.

HOMICIDES / 29 AUG 2022

Police in Guanajuato, Mexico, are accused of being in the pocket of the Jalisco Cartel. But do they have a…

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Contributes Expertise Across the Board 

22 SEP 2023

This week InSight Crime investigators Sara García and María Fernanda Ramírez led a discussion of the challenges posed by Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s “Total Peace” plan within urban contexts. The…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Cited in New Colombia Drug Policy Plan

15 SEP 2023

InSight Crime’s work on emerging coca cultivation in Honduras, Guatemala, and Venezuela was cited in the Colombian government’s…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Discusses Honduran Women's Prison Investigation

8 SEP 2023

Investigators Victoria Dittmar and María Fernanda Ramírez discussed InSight Crime’s recent investigation of a massacre in Honduras’ only women’s prison in a Twitter Spaces event on…

THE ORGANIZATION

Human Trafficking Investigation Published in Leading Mexican Newspaper

1 SEP 2023

Leading Mexican media outlet El Universal featured our most recent investigation, “The Geography of Human Trafficking on the US-Mexico Border,” on the front page of its August 30…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime's Coverage of Ecuador Leads International Debate

25 AUG 2023

This week, Jeremy McDermott, co-director of InSight Crime, was interviewed by La Sexta, a Spanish television channel, about the situation of extreme violence and insecurity in Ecuador…