Drones’ aim: smugglers

By Leslie Berestein, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
Friday, December 4, 2009 at midnight

The federal government is preparing to use unmanned aircraft capable of patrolling sea routes in its hunt for smugglers.

Next week, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s office of air and marine operations will unveil its first maritime version of the Predator B unmanned surveillance drone. The agency already uses several of the aircraft to patrol the southern and northern land borders, with operations based in Arizona and North Dakota.

This is the first unmanned aircraft that will be used to patrol at sea, said Juan Muñoz-Torres, a spokesman for the agency in Washington, D.C. Unlike the aircraft used to patrol over land, which rely on visual technology, this version is equipped with radar technology, he said.

“This one has the capacity of detecting vessels in the water,â€