Canadian police recovered a drone carrying a bag full of guns on Friday, April 29 near Port Lambton, Ontario. The Ontario Provincial Police retrieved the large drone after it got stuck in a tree along the banks of the St. Clair River during an apparent attempt to smuggle 11 handguns across the border from the U.S. to Canada.
The drone, carrying what appears to be a shopping bag full of handguns, was allegedly being controlled by an unknown person standing in the yard of a Canadian couple, the Ackwoods, who live on the Canadian side of the St. Clair river. According to an interview with Canada’s CTV News, the Ackwoods say they were away on vacation at the time. A neighbor spotted the stranger with a remote control in the Ackwoods’ yard and confronted him, at which point the drone pilot lost control and crashed the gun-toting device into a tree, then ran to a waiting vehicle and fled. (Watch the full CTV News interview here.)
While the drone pilot hasn’t been caught, the gun-slinging drone has. The St. Clair Township Fire Department retrieved the remote-control vehicle and its cargo from the tree using a bucket truck, and the police investigation is ongoing. It’s unclear whether drones have ever been used to transport firearms across the international border before.
The problem with this—besides the obviously insecure packaging and the felony—is that there’s no guarantee the drones won’t come to like the solid heft of a quality pistol, or the positive action of the slide release. We’ve already seen robot dogs with guns, and they’re terrifying. Do we really want drones, flying robot spiders, carrying Glocks? Umm, no thanks.
So, whoever is using drones to smuggle guns from the U.S. to Canada: Please, stop, before the drones become fond of the handguns. Do you want armed robot overlords? Because this is how you get armed robot overlords.
