Marijuana Cannon: The Latest Weapon Of Drug Traffickers In Mexico [PHOTO]

The marijuana cannon was made up of a long plastic pipe connected to a compressed air tank, the Associated Press reported. The cannon was placed in the back of a pickup truck where it could be driven near the border. From there, drug traffickers could load a package of marijuana, weighing up to 13 kilos (30 pounds) and fire it over the border and into California.

Officials from the United States tipped off Mexican police after seizing large packages of marijuana. The U.S. officials believed the packages were being fired from Mexico and into the United States, which led to the confiscation of the marijuana cannon.

This is not the first such device seized by Mexican police, the AP noted. Several other cannon-like devices have been seized as drug traffickers look for new ways to get drugs over the border. The United States Border Patrol and Mexican authorities have had to keep up with drug traffickers as they have explored new ways to get drugs between nations.

As the Daily Mail reported, drug traffickers have used everything from catapults to T-shirt cannons. The traffickers would load the T-shirt cannon, just like the one you would see in a stadium during a basketball or baseball game, with soup cans full of marijuana, and fire them 500 feet over the border and into Arizona. Drug traffickers have also built tunnels to smuggle drugs into America, the Daily Mail noted.

This aerial approach helps overcome security measures in place at the border, such as checkpoints, and removes the risk of trying to find smugglers to get across the border.