BFF-02 Grenade-loaded drone lands at Mexico official’s house

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ZCZC

BFF-02

MEXICO-CRIME

Grenade-loaded drone lands at Mexico official’s house

TIJUANA, Mexico, July 12, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – A drone with two grenades duct-taped to it landed at a house owned by the top security official for Mexico’s Baja California state, but did not detonate, officials said Wednesday.

The drone landed at a house owned by Gerardo Sosa Olachea, the state’s public security minister, in the city of Tecate, on the US border, on Tuesday morning, officials said.

It “was detected by state police guarding the house,” Sosa said.

The stunt appeared to be aimed at intimidating: Sosa said the grenades had been deactivated.

He does not use the house, and lives most of the time in the state capital, Mexicali, he added.

Sosa called it a reprisal for his work to fight drug cartels and “the major seizures of drugs and arms and arrests of criminals” overseen by his ministry.

With its long Pacific coastline and strategic location on the US border, Baja California is a hot spot for the drugs and arms trafficking blamed for an explosion of violence in Mexico over the past decade.

BSS/AFP/AU/07:40 hrs