The neighbors found it strange that no one seemed to live in the spacious, feature American family home in Lewiston, New York, a small town located on the Niagara River, east of Ontario, Canada.
Whoever owned the $650.000 property didn't seem to live there or care about maintenance, with his lawn unmowed to the point where it was "unmanageable," locals later told police. Even stranger, the officers were told, were the monthly arrivals of people driving expensive cars, only for the guests to leave a few days later.
Then, in the early hours of September 21 last year, the house was raided by the authorities. In the middle of the night, using a tool επιτήρησης που μπορούσε “να αναγνωρίζει υπογραφές μη επανδρωμένων αεροσκαφών, να χαρτογραφεί τη διαδρομή flightof them and to locate points ofmovementand GPS stop," Border Patrol observed an unmanned aerial vehicle fly over the Niagara River and into the home's garden, according to the warrant.
When officers arrived, the pilot and two other people tried to escape but were arrested and taken in for questioning. Police found that a package of MDMA, with a market value of approximately $110.000, was attached to the drone. A subsequent search of the home turned up multiple cameras monitoring entrances and exits, a number of commercial drones and paracord, a type of rope originally designed for parachutes.
The case reveals the government's investment in drone surveillance, particularly at the border. "Border agencies are much better at this," said Mary-Lou Smulders, chief marketing officer at Dedrone, a contractor drone detection company that provides services to various US federal government agencies.
Investigators in the Niagara River search likely used radio frequency signals to tag and locate the UAV, Smulders said. This involves installing sensors in a specific area and triangulating the drone's signals to find a relatively accurate location.
