Drones, the new armies of organized crime - Comptroller

Effective for drug transfer, terrorist attacks and the collection of information and surveillance for human trafficking, drones today are the spearhead of the main Mexican groups of organized crime

De ser el arma top secret del Ejército estadunidense a inspirar incluso los coches voladores autónomos que en breve surcarán las ciudades, los drones hoy son utilizados para el tráfico de drogas a través de la frontera entre Estados Unidos y México, realizar atentados y recabar información de inteligencia valiosa para el crimen organizado.

The Drones study: Technology at the service of transnational criminal organizations, by frigate captain Rafael Eduardo Cossío Lugo, published by the Naval Higher Study Center (CESNAV), accounts for the generalized use of organized crime drones to commit crimes on both sidesfrom the border between the United States and Mexico.

It is estimated that, between 2012 and 2017, drones operated by Mexican cartels made 850 incursions to the United States, according to the Social Communication Office of the Attorney General's Office (PGR).

According to the analysis, today the operations of Mexican and American forces have no effectiveness.With their drone fleets, criminal organizations - mainly the Sinaloa Cartel, Los Zetas and the Jalisco Nueva Generación cartel - have exceeded the authorities.

Also known as Vant (for the acronym of "unmanned aerial vehicles"), "drones already constitute authentic armies of criminal organizations for the transfer of enervating and terrorist attacks," he warns, in an interview with the composition, the intelligence and security expertNational Emilio Vizarretea Rosales.

The professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico explains that drones are effective in collecting intelligence information from government strategic areas and warns that "they don't take to venture as organized crime tools to perform extortion acts".

Doctor of Political Science for UNAM, the academic of the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences criticizes that, astechnology, but complicities.

“The same United States anti -drug agency (DEA, for its acronym), is linked to the Mexico cartels.3 years ago for letting containers pass with review or without it the rate was 500 and 1 thousand dollars, respectively.Now - Prosigue - the profits have increased by 1 thousand percent with the use of drones."

The national security expert indicates that the use of drones by organized crime groups has exponentially developed their capabilities.Today they are crossing more drugs to the United States because the intelligence model of the anti -drug agents of that country has become anachronistic.

“The strategy of the DEA of‘ Give me a route in exchange for taking away years in jail ’, every time it works less, because in Mexico there is no longer a pyramid structure of the cartels;Its members are only linked in terms of operation for drug passage."

Vizarretea Rosales explains that in Mexico the Secretariats of National Defense (Sedena) and Marina (Semar) created their cybersecurity centers, one of whose elements is the administration of drones, in Chihuahua and Sonora, from where data flow is monitored, data flow,Analysis for cyber attacks and, above all, surveillance with the use of drones in places where human being cannot access.

However, it considers that the results of surveillance with the use of drones are closely linked to the United States, where they started with this type of modality, through the Southern Command in Baja California that covers the entire peninsula and there is more control, but clarifiesthat in the rest of the border with Mexico it is still vulnerable.

He advances that the cybersecurity strategy of the López Obrador Government will be operated through the Federal Telecommunications Institute (IFETEL), because there is currently no governing body, and the Directorate of Civil Aeronautics in Drone matters only intervenes in whichThey move at a certain height.

“The central theme of drones is control, sale, use and profits of drug cartels. No está fácil la respuesta oficial a este fenómeno delictivo", enfatiza, ya que, dice, los drones se pueden constituir en una ruta para futuras extorsiones mediante amenazas de artefactos en casas de gente políticamente expuesta, “como ocurrió recientemente en Baja California".

It refers to the incident of July 10, in Tecate, Baja California, where a couple of drones adapted with fragmentation grenades fly over the municipality, until they reached the private domicile of the State's Secretary of Public Security, Gerardo Sosa Olachea.One of the drones - quipado with video and audio camera - fell during the night in the patio without detonating the artifacts.

El experto en seguridad nacional señala que hasta ahora la delincuencia organizada no ha utilizado drones para limpiar territorios, pero advierte que “cuando lo hagan va a ser complicado combatirlos porque sólo algunas zonas y áreas estratégicas del país están protegidas para evitar incursiones de aeronaves no tripuladas, como Los Pinos e instalaciones de la Sedena y la Marina, entre otras".

ZÁNGANS AFTER CRIME

Drones increasingly increase their popularity and employment in society activities, their development and mass production satisfies a diverse customers, from military, police, industrial, academic, recreational use to criminal organizations that venture into this technology for this technology forDrug trafficking, says a study by frigate captain Rafael Eduardo Cossío Lugo.

“Los drones –adaptación al español del sustantivo inglés drone (literalmente zángano, macho de las abejas), para referirse a una ‘aeronave no tripulada’–, tienen funciones muy avanzadas y capacidades de vuelo automático, menos habilidades para operarlos, condición que los pone al alcance de las organizaciones criminales transnacionales", apunta.

The Captain of the Diploma de State Frigate of the Navy of Mexico, highlights that the use of drones by transnational criminal organizations has been registered on the border of Mexico with the United States where criminal groups use them for drug trafficking operations, obtainreal -time video about the border patrol position and security authorities.

In its drones analysis: technology at the service of transnational criminal organizations, published by the Naval Superior Study Center (CESNAV), Cosío Lugo points out that, having video in real time, drug traffickers follow the movement of border agents or authorities, to establishillegal crosses on the border. “Ante esta situación se pierde la efectividad de las patrullas y la capacidad de respuesta por parte de las autoridades".

Explica que también el uso de drones es el contrabando, ya que pueden transportar de 1 a 3 kilogramos en la frontera o introducir artículos prohibidos a las prisiones, en operaciones en las que los criminales “ni siquiera se preocupan por recuperarlo, pues la droga transportada cuesta más que el dron y eso los hace desechables, y con un bajo riesgo para los infractores de ser detenidos".

Cossío Lugo adds that transnational criminal organizations use avant -garde technology to meet their needs, from communication equipment for their vessels, drift load beacons for recovery, to drones with flight control systems, automatic pilots and digital cameras,Easy to operate for anyone just following simple instructions.

In his study, Cossío details that an example of this occurred when the Federal Police arrested four men in June 2016 aboard a stolen vehicle in Guanajuato, detected an AK-47 long weapon, four cell phones, as well as a dronePump with remote detonator, finding that - says Cosío Lugo - changed the attitude of the Mexican authorities towards the criminal mafias.

It emphasizes that in the region where the arrest was made - in the Salamanca road to Morelia - it has become a cartoon laboratory that they experience with new technologies and weapons: the Sinaloa cartel, Los Zetas and the Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) cartel (CJNG).

Según el especialista, se trata de una copia de los métodos violentos del Estado Islámico (ISIS), que ha recurrido a “drones suicidas".The cartels already used the pumps, but the fact that they cross them with drone technology, which are bought on the Internet for $ 229, changes the consideration of their shares.

Between 2012 and 2017, the Armed Forces and the PGR have documented at least 850 drone intrusions on the Mexico-United States border, by cartels to traffic drugs, and where criminal groups also use them to collect information and surveillance operationsFor human trafficking.

The PGR Press Office indicates that among the operations carried out during 2017, the arrest of a man with his drone, a DJI Matrice 600 who tried to cross 6 kilos of methamphetamines to the United States.At the time of his arrest he was 1.83 kilometers of Tijuana border wall.

Samuel González Ruiz, former director of the Unit Specialized in Organized Crime of the PGR, points out that drones constitute an important complement to the use of technology by organized crime, to reinforce the land surveillance that people (hawks) do to the service to the serviceof drug cartels in Mexico.

En entrevista con Contralínea, González Ruiz considera que los drones además pueden ser usados para realizar pedidos a narcomenudistas “al estilo de Amazon", para servicio a domicilio sin ser detectados por las autoridades, lo que resulta de vital importancia para los grupos criminales en la obtención de ganancias y evitar detenciones.

Commercial user drones for transnational criminal organizations have to do with surveillance and recognition, since a drone can identify potential objectives or monitor actions or movements of a group of individuals, either from a private, public or military installation, the study indicatesCesnav Professor Rafael Eduardo Cossío Lugo.

“Because of its ability to collect images, a drone in just 23 minutes can take hundreds of low -altitude photographs in a very high resolution that allows topographic details to be appreciated less than 1 square meter.This would allow an opponent to carry out maps on areas that are outside their territory limits.

“In terms of intelligence, drones have the capacity to withstand thermal or multispectral chambers that generate heat sources maps on the ground. La observación por medio de transmisión de video en tiempo real, le permite a un grupo de personas delinquir al planear la incursión a un área restringida mientras se oculta de las fuerzas de seguridad", asegura.

It indicates that, unlike Mexico, the United States Coast Guard strategy has optimized its surveillance resources through the use of non -manned air systems (Sants).From November 2017 to January 2018, he had participated in 23 interdiction operations with drug vessels and had secured 47 thousand pounds of cocaine hydrochloride in international waters.

Jorge Edwin Rivera era el dueño de un DJI Matrice 600 de 5 mil dólares, un dron de enormes dimensiones con capacidad de carga de con 15 kilogramos, alcanzar una altitud de 2 mil 500 metros y diseñado –según refiere en su página web– “para ver fotografía aérea y aplicaciones industriales".

However, the border police arrested him to 1.83 kilometers of the wall when he piloted his drone with 6 kilograms of methamphetamine.The crystal, whose sale would have reported to Rivera about 46 thousand dollars in the United States, was confiscated next to drone.

Marco legal sobre el uso de drones, “de risa loca"

To preserve the safety of citizens and drone operators, the Ministry of Communications and Transportation (SCT) published in April 2015 the renewal of criteria to regulate the civil flight of unmanned aircraft.

The CO AV 23/10 R2 circular establishes that VANT.2 kilometers of controlled airports, 3.7 kilometers with un controlled airfields, and 900 meters with helipuertos.It also prohibits the launch of objects from the air that can cause damage to people or goods.

The standard - according to the SCT website - establishes distinctions based on the weight of three types of drones: 2 kilograms of weight or less;2 to 25 kilograms, and more than 25 kilograms.

He points out that drones of a maximum of 2 kilos can be operated without the pilot needing an authorization from the General Directorate of Civil Aeronautics (DGAC), under the SCT.But if used for commercial activities, it is mandatory that the operator has damage insurance to third parties.

For aircraft of more than 2 kilos of weight and for recreational use, the authorization of the DGAC is not necessary, although they can only fly in aeromodelling clubs.If the end is commercial, the authorization of the DGAC is mandatory for the operator.

And for drones of more than 25 kilos, the operator must have a pilot license, and the flight will be limited to the conditions established by the DGAC.

Para el general de división en retiro Roberto Badillo Martínez esta regulación es “de risa loca".In an interview with Contralínea, who was head of the Second Section (Intelligence) of the Mexican Army points out that the legislation is not only outdated, but has been exceeded by criminal gangs.Therefore, it considers urgent that the Congress of the Union Legis on the use of drones in the national airspace.

“México está en la lona en materia de leyes de aeronáutica civil y del uso de drones por parte de civiles y militares, hueco que aprovechan los grupos delincuenciales para usarlos como parte de las herramientas para el trasiego de drogas y recopilación de información, por lo que se requiere que el Congreso legisle desde luego para controlar el espacio aéreo nacional", arguye.

In this regard, Dr. Samuel García agrees that, although it is required to regulate the use of unmanned ships, it is difficultState lacks infrastructure and human team to counteract this activity.

José Réyez

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Contralínea 602 / From August 06 to 12