The Mexican military is getting ready to deal with unauthorized drones during this summer’s football World Cup.
Mexico is hosting the tournament together with the United States and Canada from June 11 to July 19.
On Tuesday, soldiers at a military base in Mexico City showed the anti-drone equipment they plan to use to protect stadiums.
The move comes because drug cartels in Mexico have increasingly used drones bought online to attack rivals and sometimes civilians. This has become more common over the past five years.
However, most of the cartel violence happens far from the three World Cup host cities: Mexico City, Guadalajara, and Monterrey.
These cities will host 13 matches during the tournament.
“(Drone prevention) is going to be focused in the stadiums and where there are crowds, which could be the ‘Fan Fest’ events, or any point where there are meetings of people,” army Captain Jose Alfredo Lara, a communications and electronics engineer, told AFP.
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A semi-mobile system that creates a protected zone where no unauthorized drone can fly.
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A portable system that a soldier can carry and point at a suspicious drone.
Once the military team locates a drone, it cuts off the pilot’s communication with the apparatus. “The device loses control and won’t be able to come close,” Lara explained.
This causes the drone to lose control and prevents it from getting close. Depending on how it is set up, the drone may return to its operator, try to leave the blocked area, or crash.
Several major criminal groups in Mexico, including the Sinaloa Cartel, Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion, and La Familia Michoacana, are known to use drones. Their activity is mostly reported in states like Michoacan, Chihuahua, and Guanajuato.
Last October, drones carrying homemade explosives attacked state prosecutor offices in Tijuana, a city near the US border.
The Mexican military says these new security measures are meant to reduce the risk of drone attacks during the World Cup and keep fans safe.
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