"As Mexico's cartels have grown more moneyed and powerful, they have also become increasingly well armed: drug traffickers and hitmen are no longer just wielding pistols and rifles, but also drones that drop bombs, improvised explosive devices, armored vehicles, landmines and grenade launchers. The cartels are preparing for war, said Eduardo Guerrero, a Mexican security analyst. They have a lot of money and the capacity to bring into Mexico a large amount of state-of-the-art weaponry."
"According to Guerrero, the cartels have become so well-armed that they have surpassed the capabilities of Mexican authorities, which must go through a complex bureaucratic process to obtain weapons. The criminals are much more up-to-date, much more technologically advanced, he said. They don't face any bureaucratic hurdles. They simply bribe officials or bribe vendors, and with money, they get what they want. And they have very advanced weaponry."
El Paso's airspace was briefly closed amid conflicting accounts attributing the shutdown to cartel drones or Pentagon counter-drone testing. Drone incursions from Mexico extend back as long as drones have existed. Mexican cartels have accumulated significant funds and weaponry, moving beyond pistols and rifles to drones that can drop bombs, IEDs, armored vehicles, landmines and grenade launchers. Cartels possess the money and channels to acquire state-of-the-art arms quickly through bribery and the black market, enabling greater technological sophistication. The integration of drones with advanced systems, including artificial intelligence, increases their operational threat.
Read at www.theguardian.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]