Mexico drug smugglers use a cannon to fire drugs into the US

GUADALAJARA, Mexico — Drug smugglers in Mexico are using cannons to get their drugs into the United States.

Authorities in the border city of Mexicali found an improvised cannon used to hurl packets of marijuana into California, the Associated Press reported Tuesday.

According to Mexican newspaper Milenio, the device had a firing range of between 1,300 and 2,000 feet — enough to get cylinders packed with drugs weighing up to 30 pounds over the border fence.  

The contraption was recovered last Thursday and police believe it had been in operation for eight months, Milenio said, citing local police chief Marco Antonio Carrillo Maza.

It is not the first cannon found on the Mexico-US border and, given the huge money involved in drug smuggling and increased border security, it probably won’t be the last.

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