Drug smugglers making more use of ultralight aircraft

The drug-smuggling aircraft seized Saturday by the Yuma Sector Border Patrol represents a new trend in across-the-border smuggling techniques, patrol said.
 
The ultralight aircraft was smuggling about 275 pounds of marijuana  estimated at $220,480, which was separated into two bundles. One of the bundles fell off upon impact and landed about 20 yards away from the scene of the crash. Both the marijuana and the aircraft were seized by Border Patrol.
 
 This is the second time that such an aircraft has been apprehended for drug smuggling in the past year, Border Patrol Supervisory Agent Ben Vik said.
 
Vik described an ultralight plane as basically a larger version of the standard hang glider. It has a "tubular aluminum superstructure" which houses the motor and the pilot's seat, a rear-facing propeller and mechanical controls. There is only a one-person capacity, for the pilot.
 
The aircraft crashed north of County 15th Street and about a half mile west of Avenue G early Saturday morning just after being spotted by Border Patrol radar flying across the Colorado River from Mexico.
 
According to the patrol, the pilot of the aircraft has yet to be found, while two other suspects were arrested in connection with the attempt. Their names have not been released, and a patrol news release did not say how they were believed to be involved.
 
"Drug-smuggling organizations are finding it harder and harder to drive across the border," Vik said, referring to the most historically used method of smuggling through car shipments. The use of ultralight planes as new modes of transportation are a sign of their current desperation, he added.
 
Vik said that Border Patrol tracks these ultralights through two different ways. The first is through simple visual perception and the second is through ground-based radar stationed in mobile trucks. Because the aircrafts fly over the border fences yet under the typical airport radar, ground-tracking devices are often needed to spot them.
 
Other popular methods of drug smuggling mentioned by the Border Patrol are driving across the border in large contraband-filled vehicles and filling drugs into a 60-80 pound backpack and simply walking across the border.
 
The last ultralight apprehended by the Border Patrol was in November, when an ultralight aircraft crashed in a lettuce field near San Luis and killed the pilot. Bundles of marijuana totaling about 141.3 pounds were also strapped to this aircraft, and no suspects were arrested at the scene of the accident.

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Karina Schroeder can be reached at kschroeder@yumasun.com or 539-6864.