Mexican police found a ‘homemade bazooka’ that might have been used to fling drugs across the border

Earlier this week, Mexican federal police in Sonora came across a panel van with modifications and additions that allowed it carry a “cannon” possibly used to launch drugs over the border into the US.

According to a release from the federal police, officers came across the van while it was parked in northwest Sonora state’s Agua Prieta municipality, which borders Arizona and Texas. The van was found without license plates and its doors were open.

Inside the vehicle, authorities found “an air compressor, a gasoline motor, a tank for storing air and a metallic tube of approximately 3 meters in length (homemade bazooka).”

The “unit,” as the release referred to it, also had a cut in the end that could have allowed the metal tube to be hooked up to launch projectiles, possibly across the border.

The vehicle in question was linked to a car theft in Hermosillo, Sonora, according to an investigation dated July 1 this year.

Days before, authorities in the same area reportedly found a vehicle with similar additions.

US authorities have said since 2012 that drug traffickers have made use of such cannons. Cans and packets of marijuana, cocaine, and crystal meth have been discovered on the US side of the border, and, according to Mexican newspaper Reforma, those projectiles can be launched from 200 meters inside Mexican territory.

Read More: Business Insider

Featured Image – A Mexican federal-police officer with a cannon-laden van – Mexican national security commission