Ultralight aircraft being used to transport drugs

The circuitous path of a private aircraft shows up as a white line on a computer monitor at the Air and Marine Operations Center in Riverside. The flight’s path, which took it about 18 miles north of the Mexican border near the town of Alpine, Calif., was being watched because this area of eastern San Diego County is known to be used by drug smugglers. But an operations chief at the air and marine center said this flight might have only been a sightseeing jaunt by a private pilot.
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Workers watch computer screens at the Air and Marine Operations Center.
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A soldier at an army base in Mexicali, Mexico, examines two ultralight aircraft that were confiscated from drug smugglers. The wing of one of the aircraft appears to have been painted black to make it harder to see.
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A soldier operates a steel basket beneath a confiscated ultralight aircraft. Smugglers piloting the aircraft drop their contraband from the basket without landing.
See full story  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)