Smugglers using a catapult to launch marijuana cross the Mexican/U.S. border were seen on a remote video surveillance system last Friday, and National Guard troops coordinated with Mexican authorities to disrupt the operation -- although nobody was caught.

National Guard troops running a remote video surveillance system at the Naco Border Patrol Station saw several people south of the International Boundary Fence preparing a catapult and launching packages over the fence, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, reports KVOA.com.

Border Patrol agents working with the National Guard contacted Mexican authorities, who hurried to the location and disrupted the catapult team. The camera showed the catapult operators running away before they could be arrested by Mexican law enforcement.

kvoa.com
nydailynews.com
tucsonsentinel.com

POLICE busted a "significant" cannabis factory because its grow lights melted all the SNOW on its roof.

Officers responding to reports of suspicious behaviour said the house was the only one not thickly blanketed after last week's snowfall.

On Thursday they raided the house in Aylestone, Leicester, and found more than 300 cannabis plants.

thesun.co.uk

A Crevillent man used clothes lines to dry the marihuana plants he had grown in his home

A man from Crevillent, Alicante, has been arrested by the Guardia Civil for growing 198 marihuana plants in the interior patio of his home.

typicallyspanish.com

.. was seized by U.S. Border Patrol agents assigned to the Rio Grande Valley Sector over a six-day span that began last Friday and ended Wednesday.

In multiple, unrelated incidents that occurred throughout the sector, agents confiscated nearly 8 tons of marijuana.

thecypresstimes.com

In what the police called a rare type of seizure, a routine traffic stop early Sunday in Queens led officers to more than a quarter of a ton of marijuana.

Two officers in an unmarked car noticed a white 2010 Dodge Caravan run a red light and make a quick turn without signaling about 4 a.m. Sunday at the intersection of Merrick Boulevard and Farmers Boulevard. The officers, members of the anticrime unit in the 113th Precinct, followed the vehicle and tried to get the driver to pull over. Instead, the driver sped off, leading the officers on a five-block chase, according to the police.

nytimes.com
wsj.com
theyeshivaworld.com
nypost.com

Federal authorities are trying a new tactic to find underground drug smuggling tunnels near the Mexico border in San Diego, after finding two tunnels last month and seizing 50 tons of marijuana.

Authorities are now going door to door, asking business owners to help them look for signs of underground tunnel construction and existing tunnels.

Sophisticated Passageways

About four blocks from the U.S.-Mexico border, in San Diego's Otay Mesa, there are about 600 generic-looking warehouses. Federal authorities plan to visit them all.

npr.org

Russia is once again prepared to take custody of the Tajik-Afghan border. This was stated by head of the CIS Department of the Foreign Ministry of Russia Maxim Peshkov, formerly a Russian ambassador to Tajikistan.

According to him, it can be done "with regard to the situation in Afghanistan and the growing threat of terrorism." He said that the issue is currently under review and "if the Tajiks invite us to protect their borders, there is no reason to deny this request."

pravda.ru

A small drone used by Mexican federal police was flying in its country's airspace before malfunctioning, forcing controllers to crash it across the Texas border in El Paso, a Mexican government official told The Associated Press.

The unmanned aircraft was on routine patrol before it crashed Tuesday night in an El Paso yard, said the Mexican government official, who spoke Friday on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the issue.

msn.com