Enlarge (credit: Customs and Border Patrol)
As thousands of people took to the streets of Minneapolis on Friday to protest a white officer killing an unarmed black man by kneeling on his neck during an arrest, a Customs and Border Patrol drone kept a careful eye on the unfolding unrest.
The drone, using the tracking signal CBP104, took off from Grand Forks Airforce Base at 9:08 am Central Daylight Time and shortly afterward headed directly to Minneapolis, this feed from live flight tracking service FlightAware showed. The drone then circled the city six times from about 10:45 until noon. The aircraft maintained an altitude of about 20,000 feet.
Grand Forks AFB is the home of the Air Force’s 319th Reconnaissance Wing. It is also a site Customs and Border Patrol personnel use for takeoff and landing of the Predator B unmanned aircraft system. CPB uses the drone in anti-terrorism operations by helping to identify and intercept potential terrorists and illegal cross-border activity.
Read 4 remaining paragraphs | Comments
Source: Ars Technica – Border Patrol drone used in anti-terror ops flies over Minneapolis protestors