We’ve seen the illegal drug trade use many methods to smuggle narcotics into America. Many cocaine traffickers now use home-made submarines to sneak their cargo in. But the latest item comes from along the Arizona-Mexico border where U.S. Customs and Border Patrol surveillance discovered smugglers using a cannabis catapult! Yes, the drug traffickers are going Medieval with a home-made catapult which lobs 45-pound bags of marijuana over the fence. Some people have all the fun!
National Guard units video-recorded the activity which led United States Border Patrol agents to the scene and make the bust near Tuscon, Arizona. Spokesman for the Border Patrol, David Jimarez told Reuters “It looks like a medieval catapult that was used back in the day.”
The device is basically a small standard-sized trailer with a metal framework for the catapult and a length of elastic material to serve as the counter-force which hurls the marijuana more than 100 yards. Known as a trebuchet, these catapults are easy to build and have become quite popular due to many TV programs demonstrating their effectiveness. Over the Thanksgiving holidays, on program on cable featured an annual pumpkin throwing contest held using home-made trebuchets.
Once the cataplut-culprits were discovered lofting their 45-pound bags of marijuana across the fence, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents contacted Mexican authorities whom promptly made the arrests. The cooperation between the National Guard, Border Patrol, and Mexican officials worked well on this drug bust.
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Smugglers with medieval catapult nabbed at U.S. border
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January 27th, 2011 at 4:01 pm
This is funny! What next? Will smugglers start building Roman ballistas to fling their cargo into the US?
January 27th, 2011 at 4:12 pm
Beats keestering.
If anything its another way for illegals to clear the fence. Wrap yourself in a little bubble wrap…
INCOMING !
January 27th, 2011 at 6:15 pm
This country is at war on several fronts, whether or not politicians want to acknowledge it.
1. We are being INVADED by illegal immigrants that bring all kinds of baggage into the country while taking from us.
2. We are seeing drug fronts all over the country on land, sea, and air. Worse than ever before.
3. Radical islamic terrorists are seeking to kill us, and it’s probably just a matter of time before there’s a sucide bomber on our soil.
4. The chinese are trying to constrict us every way possible to bring us down.
What has government done for our “best interest” on any one of these fronts? NOTHING!
The president’s State of the Union speech shows us that he’s blind to the destruction of our country’s fabric. He only wants to spend money that we simply do not have. We need a leader that will replentish the devastation our country is undergoing. We cannot afford to see another 4 years of detachment from reality. A lame duck obama will have no limits on radical policy, and there will be nothing left by the time he is through.
If this is what we see at the border now, what will we see in 5 years from now if obama is re-elected?
January 27th, 2011 at 7:22 pm
Could someone let me know the next time there is a launch? Of course, I am not sure I can catch a 45 pound baggie.
January 28th, 2011 at 3:25 am
Next thing you know they’ll be rolling a large wooden horse to the border as a peace offering.
January 28th, 2011 at 4:36 am
FM,
I’d be really scared if they rolled up in a large wooden rabbit.
RUN-AWAY! RUN-AWAY!!!
January 28th, 2011 at 5:10 am
That movie is a classic. I’ve been unable to find it on VHS or DVD. One of my favorite scenes was the castle full of virgins.
“THEN YOU’LL HAVE TO SPANK ME. AND ME, AND ME, AND ME…
January 28th, 2011 at 9:24 am
FM
It can be bought at http://www.hotmoviesale.com
Andy,
Thou taketh thee holy hand grenade….
January 28th, 2011 at 10:29 am
Thanks Rowdym, there’s a lot of people I want to show it to that have never seen it.
January 28th, 2011 at 12:03 pm
If this is what we see at the border now, what will we see in 5 years from now if obama is re-elected?
Pff, please, Obama has made no changes at all regarding how we police the border. The problems down there cannot be blamed on him, except to the extent that he has continued the failed policies of his predecessors.
And no matter how big a fence you build, and no matter how many warm bodies and guns you put along the border, this will never stop. Never. The cartels simply make so much money that the risk will always be worth it.
U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents contacted Mexican authorities whom promptly made the arrests.
Whom did they arrest? I thought the only found the trebuchet, I didn’t think they actually found anybody near it.
January 28th, 2011 at 12:21 pm
“Pff, please, Obama has made no changes at all regarding how we police the border.”
yeah well, as the saying goes. Bad behavior is not an excuse to continue it. And yeah, lots of countrys keep secure borders that are pi$$ poor.
To say nothing can ever be done about it is pathetic.
January 28th, 2011 at 12:48 pm
Bad behavior is not an excuse to continue it.
Agreed 100%
To say nothing can ever be done about it is pathetic.
I didn’t say nothing can ever be done. I said traditional militaristic barrier approaches will never do a thing to turn the tide, no matter how fanatically we pursue them.
Something certainly can be done — we can legalize and put an end to this massively harmful charade.
January 28th, 2011 at 1:16 pm
“I said traditional militaristic barrier approaches will never do a thing to turn the tide, no matter how fanatically we pursue them”.
A mine field could shut things down nicely.
January 28th, 2011 at 1:36 pm
A mine field could shut things down nicely.
No it couldn’t. Drop-shipments from small personal aircraft are an extremely common method of drug smuggling.
January 28th, 2011 at 1:55 pm
You don’t think the military could shut down that border, take down small planes? Please. All it takes is the will to do it.
January 28th, 2011 at 2:03 pm
All it takes is the will to do it.
Same statement applies to those who smuggle drugs.
January 28th, 2011 at 2:07 pm
“Something certainly can be done — we can legalize and put an end to this massively harmful charade.”
As you know I’m a strong proponent for legalizing pot.
But, to legalize meth and opiates is insane.
We have this discussion before.
fences work if they’re built right.
Its that simple
January 28th, 2011 at 3:00 pm
@Hondo: “You don’t think the military could shut down that border, take down small planes? Please. All it takes is the will to do it.”
I couldn’t agree more if I tried!
January 28th, 2011 at 3:16 pm
Illegals, their drugs, crimes, entitlements, incarceration and the whole gammit costs us around 350 billion a year.
I find it hard to believe that in the next three years a decent border wouldnt pay for itself and help bail out this country in no time.
As long as politicians are fighting for the Latino vote and the special interests that come with their lobbyists nothing will change.
It has nothing to do with our appetite for drugs or the false arguement that we cant construct a functional border.
Can you imagine how many jobs would be lost if we actually did something ?
January 28th, 2011 at 3:54 pm
Yes, FM,
“Monty Python and the Holy Grail” has so much good stuff in it! Last night I saw an old Peter Sellers flick on TCM, co-starring Terry Thomas in the title role, “Carlton-Browne, F.O.”. Typical nutty, British-imperialist ‘humour’. A riot of farce equal to “The Mouse That Roared”.
January 28th, 2011 at 3:58 pm
JoAnne,
There’s no way to fully shut down the border. While I tend not to agree with Snow Crash much, she’s right on this one. The smugglers always are a step ahead. Legalization is the only practical solution. The police cannot stop the drug lords but Philip Morris and PepsiCo sure can!
January 28th, 2011 at 4:01 pm
It’ll be like when the corporations took over Las Vegas after the Mob lost their heads and went too far. The cartels will still have a seat at the table as suppliers, but they’ll be packing spreadsheets and Minimax reports instead of Uzis and AK-47s.
January 28th, 2011 at 4:08 pm
“While I tend not to agree with Snow Crash much, she’s right on this one.’
Hes not gonna like that.
“There’s no way to fully shut down the border. ”
Yeah there is. Keeping the dope out is another story
January 28th, 2011 at 4:10 pm
To be more precise, you’re right Andy, we cant “fully” shut down the border but dammit we can do way more to stop allowing anyone and everyone to just waltz on thru
January 29th, 2011 at 4:26 am
The border is so much more than about drugs. We need to change the immigration policy as well. In my opinion, that is just as big an issue.
Do I think we can control everything into and out of the US from the south? No I do not. I do think we could do a much better job than we are.