An aircraft, two off-road vehicles and almost 200 pounds of Methamphetamine were all involved in a drug bust near the Salton Sea, the head of the Riverside District Drug Enforcement Administration Office said it is unprecedented for smugglers to travel 50 miles deep into the country by air.

United States Border Patrol agents arrested four men suspected to pick-up 184.5 pounds of meth by parachute drop-off. The Assistant Special Agent in Charge for the Riverside District D.E.A. office, Wade Shannon, said the drop-off was delivered by an ultralight aircraft.

“Any type of aerial incursion is usually within the proximity of the border, whether it is by ultralight aircraft or drones,” Shannon said. “This is unprecedented when they get to the next county, Riverside county and it’s very, very sophisticated and people need to be very concerned about this.”

Shannon said this was bold move by the drug smugglers, the pilot was able to fly away presumably crossed back to Mexico.

Shannon said, “They are just flying it in and Riverside and San Bernardino counties are major commanding control centers for the cartels.”

Riverside and San Bernardino Counties have wide open spaces that cartels use to break down the illegal drugs and the easy freeway access from the area helps smugglers transport the substances to the East Coast.

The Trump administration said part of the solution to halt drug smuggling into the country is to build an impenetrable border wall along the southern border, but with the sophistication cartels operate, a border wall may not be enough to stop them.

Shannon said, “Obviously when you are flying in an aircraft walls don’t really matter but controlling your airspace matters.”

Drug Enforcement Administration agents expect smugglers to try these types of operations again, Shannon said the agents were able to catch the suspects this time but cartels operate under the law of averages.

Aircraft Illegally Flies into the Coachella Valley in ‘Unprecedented’ Meth Bust