Drugs from above: Officials track drone carrying ecstasy across U.S.-Canada border
Law enforcement arrested a drone operator in the backyard of this home at 4240 Wolf Run Drive, Lewiston, after the Border Patrol tracked the suspicious flight of a drone and alerted police where it was landing. Police said more than $100,000 worth of ecstasy was attached to the drone.
As the drone hovered without navigation lights just past 2 a.m. in the backyard of a Lewiston home, the police were ready to pounce.
Border surveillance technology pinpointed where they needed to be for the return flight of the drone that flew across the U.S.-Canada border to Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont., and then back.
It was the early morning hours of Sept. 21 and the trafficking of illicit drugs across the border – usually involving hidden packages in the cargo of commercial trucks – was taking a different twist: Police discovered ecstasy with a street value of $110,000 attached to the drone. And they were there when it landed behind the $630,000 home where nobody seemed to live, according to court papers filed in U.S. District Court in Buffalo.
A rope utility cord was tied around a package containing the ecstasy and attached to the bottom of the drone.
The amount of ecstasy indicated the work of a narcotics trafficker – not a casual user, authorities say.
"Simple users in drugs and narcotics are not known to import the drugs themselves using highly sophisticated smuggling methods such as a drone," Timothy Carroll, a special agent for Homeland Security Investigations, said in an affidavit that sought a search warrant. "This behavior is consistent with individuals that are importing and re-selling a drug/narcotic for sale."
U.S. Customs and Border Protection declined to say how often or rare it is for drug traffickers to fly drones near or across the border in the Buffalo area.
"We have been using technology such as unmanned aircraft systems to combat cross-border criminal activity for many years," said Mike Niezgoda, the agency's public affairs officer for the Buffalo field office.
Citing the ongoing case, he referred other questions to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Buffalo, which declined to comment.
Around 1:30 that early September morning, the Border Patrol discovered a drone launched in the Lewiston area near the Niagara River.
The federal agency monitored the drone as it crossed the lower Niagara and landed at 1:38 a.m. near the On Seven Estates Winery in Niagara-on-the-Lake.
About 15 minutes later, the drone launched from the site near the winery. It entered U.S. airspace at 2:03 a.m., according to court filings.
In a minute the drone returned to its initial launch location at the Lewiston home.
Law enforcement tracked the drone using an electronic surveillance system that can recognize drone signatures, map flight paths and identify starting and stopping points via GPS technology, according to the court filing.
At 2:05 a.m. the Border Patrol agents and New York State Park Police officers observed the drone hovering in the backyard of a home on Wolf Run Drive, spotting the package hanging from the drone.
The drone landed near Edvin Yug Deng, who authorities identified as the drone pilot, and another person.
When the agents and police officers entered the backyard and announced themselves, the two suspects ran into the home and law enforcement followed them "in hot pursuit," according to court records.
Deng surrendered and was placed under arrest. But the other person eluded the police and could not be found in the house.
Inside the house, the police saw other drones and noticed the house was outfitted with numerous exterior and interior webcams. So they secured the scene and did not reenter the residence until a search warrant could be obtained.
When they got the warrant and searched the house later that day, authorities found six personal and commercial grade drones, controllers and other electronics. They also found on a kitchen counter three spools of paracord, a lightweight nylon rope, like that used on the drone containing the drugs.
Shortly after arresting Deng, law enforcement received a call from a person requesting medical attention not far from the home, according to a court record. The person on the phone claimed to be short of breath. An ambulance was dispatched to the location near a home on Lower River Road, not quite half a mile from the Wolf Run Drive house.
When officers arrived there, they encountered two people emerging from the woods: Jinxin Chen, who police said ran from them at the Wolf Run Drive residence when the drone landed, and Yong Chen, who police first encountered at the Lower River Road location.
Agents who later reviewed a video hard drive seized from the home said it showed Jinxin Chen and Yong Chen on the front porch appearing to look up and down the street at 1:02 a.m., about 25 minutes before the drone launch from the Lewiston home, with Jinxin Chen holding what appears to be a drone controller. They then walked off the porch and went out of view of the surveillance camera. The next time they appeared on surveillance footage came at 2:07 a.m., when both ran out of the front door of the home when police entered the backyard.
Yong Chen told police he was staying at the Wolf Run Drive house for a few days while on vacation. He said he was from Long Island and worked at a nail salon on Long Island called Y & L Beauty Nail Inc.
Yong Chen said he knew the other two, saying they were from California. They met playing online games, he said, and he had seen and spoken to them via webcam, according to court records. Yong Chen told agents the other two had arrived in Lewiston two days before him and that he gave them the security code to the Wolf Run Drive home so they could get inside. Yong Chen told the agents he believed the drone had arrived at the home before he arrived and that it was used to play some sort of online game.
Neighbors told law enforcement that the home was rarely occupied and that people would arrive in expensive cars about once a month and stay for a few days. The home rarely had interior lights on and the grass grew to an unmanageable length, the neighbors said, according to court records. One neighbor saw a few people arrive at the home a few days before the police showed up on Sept. 21.
When law enforcement searched the home, they noted little to no furniture with exception of a sectional couch and mattresses on the bedroom floors but few other items and no clothing.
There was no home décor such as artwork or photographs within the residence. There were no food, supplies or any household items which would establish anyone lived in the home as an everyday residence.
Authorities said the home last sold on April 21 for $630,000 to Y & L Beauty Nail Inc., which took out a mortgage loan for $425,250. While the handwriting on the transaction paperwork is not clear, the signature appears to be from the nail salon's owner, who is also Yong Chen's sister, according the court paperwork.
The U.S. Attorney's Office has begun a civil action seeking to seize the home, saying it was used to facilitate the commission of a felony crime.
Deng has been charged with unlawfully importing a controlled substance into the United States and possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute. He was released from custody and placed on home detention with electronic monitoring.
Attorney Kevin E. Morgan, who's representing Deng, declined to discuss the case other than to say "my client has pled not guilty and maintains his innocence."
Authorities have not charged Jinxin Chen or Yong Chen.
