Counternarcotics agents in the Albany District
Office (ADO) of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) New York
Field Division are investigating an unnamed Mexico-linked drug smuggling
organization that was shipping marijuana from Arizona to New York in
large wooden crates that were outfitted with motion-activated cameras to
detect tampering, according to a DEA intelligence report issued last
month.
Obtained by Homeland Security Today, the
bulletin said the cameras were made by Smart Scouter, a brand of
motion-activated camera similar to the kinds of mobile, motion-activated
cameras that hunters and biologists routinely mount on trees to track
and record the movement of wildlife.
"When the Smart Scouter takes a photo, the user is
notified by text message,” and “in this way, the target would have been
alerted in real time if the [crates of marijuana] had been opened by law
enforcement or anyone other than the intended recipient," the DEA
bulletin said.
Users can retrieve photographs taken by the cameras and manage the cameras from a computer or cell phone.
The DEA “intelligence note” stated, “Agents in the
ADO successfully used an administrative subpoena to obtain the target’s
account information and telephone numbers from the Smart Scouter
company. ... The two Smart Scouter devices the target was using were
assigned area code 847 telephone numbers, which were used for sending
data through the cellular network. The company was also cooperative in
providing call records for the devices and providing photos taken by the
device to the Albany DO.”
The 847 area code is assigned to Illinois.
According to federal counter-drug officials, the
Mexico-based Federation, Gulf and Juárez Cartels have long been
entrenched in Illinois, with significant operations in the Chicago metro
area. DEA has said these cartels supply most of the cocaine,
methamphetamine and marijuana that’s distributed in the Chicago region,
which serves as the major hub for the delivery and transshipment of
these and other drugs throughout the Great Lakes region and the Midwest.
The National Drug Intelligence Center said the most
common means that traffickers employ to transport drugs into Illinois
for sale and distribution are commercial trucks, passenger vehicles,
package delivery services, air packages or couriers and railways.
Government southern border security officials told Homeland Security Today
that “place and leave” motion-activated cameras have also been found
along drug- and human-trafficking routes. Investigations found the
devices were relaying text messages, still photographs and video to cell
phones and IP addresses linked to known and suspected members of
Mexican transnational criminal organizations (TCOs). Some of the
video was accessable in real-time via the Internet.
The officials, who spoke only on background, said
these remotely accessed cameras not only were being used by cartels to
monitor their trafficking activities, but that they also were being used
to gain situational awareness of US Border Patrol and other border law
enforcement activities as part of intelligence collection efforts to
assess when and where to conduct trafficking operations.
According to the DEA bulletin, in order to use the
Smart Scouter’s wireless capability, the user has to establish an
account with Smart Scouter and purchase a wireless data plan through the
Sprint, AT&T or VTS networks. When the device takes a picture, it
is transmitted over the cellular network to the Smart Scouter's servers,
and the user receives a text message alert that a new picture is
available. The user can then view the picture by logging in to his
account.
The DEA’s intelligence alert indicated that two
Smart Scouter models were involved: the “Wildlife Management Camera” and
the “Black Ops 940,” both of which are substantially similar in
appearance, though the Black Ops model has a low-visibility finish and
is advertised as having a wide-angle lens.
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