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Comment by DrFunke | Hacker News Reader

The DEA's budget is nearly $3B. I'd doubt RC technology can compete against that.

Are you being facetious? Rand Corporation estimates the US illegal drug market to be over $109B.

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-03-10/more-pot-les...

That is so much more money than the government has to fight it. Look into how Mexican cartels are actually kidnapping engineers to build infrastructure for their paramilitary operations: http://www.wired.com/2012/11/zeta-radio/

For manufacturers, the profit margins on illegal drugs are absurd. A lab in Mexico can make meth for $500/kg. Once that meth is in the US, it can sell for $60,000/kg.[1] In other words, manufacturers can lose 90% of their product and still make tons of money.

Unless the DEA intercepts practically every drug drone sent across the border, people are going to keep at it. The money's just too good.

1. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/drugs/special/...

I was talking to a customs officer in Australia who said that some drugs were just dumped overboard and collected from the shore. Even with a loss rate of ~90% from customs intervention and/or not making it to the beach, he said it was still profitable enough that they kept on doing it.

One of the common tactics for smuggling by boat is to keep it in garbage bags. You weight the drug bags, and carry ordinary garbage on board. If you get stopped, you throw all the bags. The coast guard only find you dumping garbage and the most they can do is slap you with a fine.

The DEA's budget is nearly $3B, and they can't do shit against rocks in a bag. The DEA's budget could be $3 Trillion, and they still couldn't do shit against rocks in a bag.

Convictions require evidence.

Um, the drug cartels were the first to buy big mainframes for data mining to optimize their operations and to find their traitors. That was 1994.

http://cocaine.org/cokecrime/

I suspect that the cartels have already analyzed the cost. I'd bet that an autonomous sub is much more cost effective.

The TSA's budget is $7.6B and you'd be surprised the DIY things that can compete against that.

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