Gun-smuggling drone crashes into tree in Canada

There is really no limit to what people can do with drones, is there?

Whether it is legal or illegal, sometimes you have to marvel at the creative ways people are finding to use unmanned aerial vehicles all over the world.

Last Friday at the US-Canada border, somebody discovered a way of putting his octocopter to work – smuggling guns into Canada.

It gives us no joy to report this at all.

Another drone idiot who will just kick plans for integrating drones into busy airspaces and over populated areas further down the road.

Police in Canada are looking for information that would help with identifying the pilot, who almost succeeded in smuggling a dozen handguns using a shopping bag and a handy drone.

But for the fact that the pilot crushed the drone into a tree in Ontario, he may not have been caught at all.

Police officers in southern Ontario were called to a home near the town of Port Lambton, north-east of Detroit, after residents reported seeing a stranger manoeuvring a commercial drone.

“Our neighbour had spotted someone in our yard in the middle of the night and he had a remote control,” Christine Ackwood told CTV News. “He wasn’t sure what was going on.”

The drone operator lost control of the drone and sent it hurtling into a tree.

In apparent panic, the pilot abandoned his drone and fled in a waiting vehicle.

Police recovered the drone with bucket truck, and upon reaching it, they were shocked to discover that it was not just a drone they would be retrieving.

Attached to it was a plastic shopping bag tied tight with metal carabiners and electrical tape.

Inside, the police discovered eleven handguns – most of which were weapons prohibited in Canada.

One of the images shared by police appears to show the serial numbers of a black handgun had been sanded off.

The Guardian reports that the officers suspect the drone travelled east from Michigan across the St Clair River, which marks the border between Canada and the United States. But police still do not know who was piloting the drone, and who the illicit delivery was intended for.

Many handguns used to commit crimes in Canada are secreted into the country from the United States. In the past, smugglers have used transport trucks, passenger vehicles and aircraft to evade authorities.

The use of a drone suggests groups could be trying out new strategies, but it is unclear if Friday’s discovery is the first time a drone has been used.

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