U.S. Military Uses Laser Weapons to Shoot Down 3 Drug Trafficking Group Drones

On August 27, Xinhua News Agency reported from Washington that a statement released by a website under the U.S. Central Command stated that the U.S. military recently used laser weapons to shoot down three drones belonging to drug trafficking groups at the U.S.-Mexico border.

The statement said that during operations from late night on the 25th to the 26th, the "Southern Border Joint Task Force" under the U.S. Northern Command used the Army's Multi-Purpose High-Energy Laser System to intercept and destroy three "hostile drones." These drones posed a "personal threat" to U.S. military personnel and U.S. Customs and Border Protection enforcement officers.

Colonel Curtis Taylor, commander of the "Southern Border Joint Task Force," stated in the announcement that drug trafficking networks are increasingly using drone systems to assist in illegal human smuggling and to "conduct reconnaissance on U.S. military and law enforcement personnel."

Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Defense reported that there were more than 1,000 drone incursion incidents per month at the U.S.-Mexico border. U.S. security officials said that Mexican drug trafficking groups are using drones to air-drop drugs or monitor smuggling routes.