Pot-Firing Catapult Found At Arizona-Mexico Border

TUCSON, Ariz. — Drug smugglers trying to get marijuana across the Arizona-Mexico border apparently are trying a new approach – a catapult.

National Guard troops operating a remote video surveillance system at the Naco Border Patrol Station say they observed several people preparing a catapult and launching packages over the International Border fence last Friday evening.

Tucson TV station KVOA says Border Patrol agents working with the National Guard contacted Mexican authorities, who went to the location and disrupted the catapult operation.

The smugglers left the area before they could be captured, but Mexican officials seized about 45 pounds of marijuana, an SUV and the catapult device.

Naco is about 80 miles southeast of Tucson.

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Information from: KVOA-TV, http://www.kvoa.com/

Comments

[RTIII]

04:48 PM on 01/31/2011

Looks like they were struggling with it.

It would have been better for them if they had simply made a real trebuchet - it's easier to load, and throws much farther and higher than this thing they were trying to use.

Also, they needed some form of camoflage. I'd recommend they first practice a lot, then find a way to launch from inside a building with a sliding roof. That'd cut down on any chance they'd be spotted - just have to have a coordinated pickup...

[Bj Goode]

04:33 PM on 01/31/2011

seems like a 'getting high' could be the punchline to this somehow.

[z del infierno]

09:31 AM on 01/30/2011

Queue the Benny Hill music, speed up the video of the catapult being used to show the pounds of airborne weed being caught and bundles of money flying to the other side, now that's funny! Because that is all this is.

[youcannotbeserious]

04:35 PM on 01/29/2011

I bet the Mexicans got the idea from one of our many reality shows about midgets called "Little People Big World". One episode showed them slinging pumpkins from a similar contraption at their yearly pumpkin patch they opened up to the public. I liked that show.

[Gordon Soderberg]

04:22 PM on 01/29/2011

MED-EX when it absolutely needs to be over the fence.

[LittleMs Random]

03:35 PM on 01/29/2011

Lol...talk about innovative.

[ray newman]

09:24 AM on 01/29/2011

Fire for effect 420 fire,fire,fire,

[valeskas]

09:12 AM on 01/29/2011

Don't forget to catapult it in my yard.

[GraniteSkyline]

08:17 AM on 01/29/2011

Niiiice!

Is a people launcher next?

[trainer3]

07:06 AM on 01/29/2011

Oh boy, we get to use our siege weapon. "Archers to the front! More hot oil!"

[trainer3]

06:57 AM on 01/29/2011

"Want some papers with that?"
"Better throw me a roll or two."

[Steve Magruder]

05:18 AM on 01/29/2011

In short: There's no way to keep this stuff out as long as there's a willing customer in the U.S.

[Coinyer101]

08:59 AM on 01/29/2011

It's foo lish for anyone to even want to keep it out. The only reason 'they' want to keep it out , is the same reason cartels want to send it in....,  $$$!! 

[Kyle Rassel]

10:04 PM on 01/29/2011

The only way to keep it out is a mass decriminalization in the States as well as an increase in availability to the willing customers. Realistically, anybody that is a legitimate customer knows the stuff they're catapulting over the wall is garbage weed anyway. The good stuff is what's driven here from California/Colorado or shipped through FedEx. Either that or grown here in Arizona. No catapult necessary.

[ken607]

09:01 PM on 01/28/2011

next.... air cannon!

[ken607]

08:59 PM on 01/28/2011

A for effort!

[Coinyer101]

08:40 PM on 01/28/2011

Us hippies are smarter than anyone knows , and we like it that way. I used to grow all my weed in 4 in. diameter PVC pipes, painted with camo paint, hung in the tops of oak trees. When the helicopter cops flew over at night to spot the pot patches with infrared, they would note the coordinates then come back in daylight to pull 'em up.....,
 
I tellin' you, there is nuthin' funner than watchin' a dozen 'crewcuts' wandering around aimlessly in the woods searching the ground for plants hangin' in the trees above them.....,
 
ROFLMAO!!

[GraniteSkyline]

08:18 AM on 01/29/2011

Thanks for the tip!

[Coinyer101]

08:57 AM on 01/29/2011

Ya welcome...., them popos think they so smart sometimes....,  lol  ; )_~