Eyes in the Sky: How CBP Combats Drug Smuggling with Blimps

By Steve Neavling 
ticklethewire.com Blimps hovering 10,000 feet above the U.S. border are helping combat drug smuggling operations. Customs and Border Protection is using eight unmanned, unarmed blimps as eyes in the sky as part of the agency’s Tethered Aerostat Radar System (TARS). “TARS is the most cost-efficient capability that we own,” Richard Booth, director…

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Drug Traffickers Increasingly Taking to High Seas to Avoid Driving Across U.S. Border

Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com Drug smugglers are a stubborn bunch. When security is tight, smugglers find another way into the country. The Associated Press reports that drug traffickers are increasingly using boats to reach the U.S. They take the Pacific Ocean from Mexico and South America to California. Smugglers likely are finding the task easier too…

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Border Patrol Says Mountaintop Drug Spotters Eluding Authorities Because of Rules of Engagement

Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com The head of the U.S. Border Patrol told senators Tuesday that rules of engagement are too constraining and making it difficult to combat armed drug cartel spotters while atop U.S. mountains, the Washington Times reports. Cartels traditionally send out spotters on U.S. territory to inspect border protection.  Border Patrol Chief Michael J….

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Two Border Patrol Agents Accused of Forcing Immigrants to Strip, Eat Marijuana, on Trial

   Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com Two Border Patrol agents accused of forcing drug smugglers to strip and eat marijuana are on trial this week on civil rights charges, the Huffington Post reports. Authorities said the border patrol agents left the four undocumented immigrants, wearing nothing but their underwear, to fend for themselves in the cold desert…

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