AirTag Used by Federal Agents to Bust Illegal Narcotics Manufacturer

[MacRumors]

The United States Drug Enforcement Agency last year used an AirTag to track illegal drug making paraphernalia sent from China to a narcotics manufacturer in the U.S., according to information from a search warrant that was shared by Forbes.

Border agents in May 2022 intercepted two packages from China, which included a pill press and pill dyes. They suspected the equipment was headed to a drug dealer and notified the DEA. The DEA opted to stick an AirTag inside the package to track its movements, which appears to be the first time an AirTag has been used in such a way.

The search warrant does not provide details on why the DEA opted to use an AirTag over another kind of GPS-based tracking device, but it mentioned that the "precise location information" would let investigators "obtain evidence about where such individuals store drugs and/or drug proceeds, where they obtain controlled substances, and where else they distribute them."

A retired detective that spoke to Forbes speculated that the DEA may have used an AirTag because it offers more reliable connectivity than other devices, or because of past failures of the GPS devices available to police.

AirTags have built-in anti-tracking functions that may not make them suitable for use for this kind of tracking. They are designed to play a sound when away from an owner for a short period of time, and can also be located using the Find My app on iPhone or the Tracker Detect app for Android.

The recipient of the package was ultimately not charged in federal court, but he did end up being charged by the state of Massachusetts where the package was delivered.

Article Link: AirTag Used by Federal Agents to Bust Illegal Narcotics Manufacturer

 

[sniffies]

That's really dope!

 

[I7guy]

Sure this is not a use case Apple envisioned.

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

Uhhh... I don't think Apple ever imagined for AirTags to be used this way.

 

[Spaceboi Scaphandre]

Uhhh... I don't think Apple ever imagined for AirTags to be used this way.

We've actually started using AirTags in the federal government not too long ago. I was actually part of the process into getting them approved as our national cybersecurity team in DC came to me since I'm the only Apple Sheep in our data center so they wanted to know more about AirTags.

Yeah the Apple Ecosystem is foreign for a lot of them since a lot of federal employees are Android users, which is funny since our government furnished phones are all iPhones.

 

[russell_314]

They are designed to play a sound when away from an owner for a short period of time, and can also be located using the Find My app on iPhone or the Tracker Detect app for Android.

The speaker can be removed easily. There are multiple YouTube Videos showing how to do this. I would hope the DEA did this...

You can't get around tracking notifications but if it's going through the mail that's probably not going to happen till the item gets to the destination.

 

[russell_314]

Uhhh... I don't think Apple ever imagined for AirTags to be used this way.

I'm sure this is giving Tim Cook heartburn 🤣

 

[Chazak]

We've actually started using AirTags in the federal government not too long ago. I was actually part of the process into getting them approved as our national cybersecurity team in DC came to me since I'm the only Apple Sheep in our data center so they wanted to know more about AirTags.

Yeah the Apple Ecosystem is foreign for a lot of them since a lot of federal employees are Android users, which is funny since our government furnished phones are all iPhones.

And you are here posting about it and what you do and where you work? Hmmm.

 

[steve09090]

How do they get around the "an AirTag is with you" notification?

 

[russell_314]

How do they get around the "an AirTag is with you" notification?

I don't think you can but this was just to track it though some shipping method. Maybe they were hoping the courier didn't have an iPhone. It is possible they had Apple deactivate this feature for that AirTag but we'll never know.

 

[bLackjackj]

AirTags have built-in anti-tracking functions that may not make them suitable for use for this kind of tracking. They are designed to play a sound when away from an owner for a short period of time

Not unless the speaker is removed. Clearly they would not keep or would simply disconnect the speaker.

 

[russell_314]

Not unless the speaker is removed. Clearly they would not keep or would simply disconnect the speaker.

Removing the speaker is a big help because if the AirTag is away from it's owner for a period of time it starts chirping. This won't stop tracking notifications sent to someone with an iPhone but maybe it's possible Apple could disable that on the back end. Maybe some deal with the feds so they'll leave iCloud alone for now 🤣

 

[Baritone_Guy]

This is actually a use I can get behind

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Good guys using them to deal with Bad guys: shock & horror???

Bad guys using them to exploit Good guys: shock & horror!

It seems many of our collective reactions should flip in one of those scenarios.

I for one appreciate anything that helps the good guys beat the bad guys. Whether it's this or something else, hurray for the good! 🎉

 

[lovehateapple]

Sure, it's an interesting use case, but wasn't the address where the package was going available and visible to the border agents / DEA? In other words, why was an airtag needed to track it?

 

[Aston441]

But… but Apple says I can’t track my dog with it! They cheated!

 

[JM]

someone please make a parody commercial of the DEA + Apple collab.

 

[JM]

But… but Apple says I can’t track my dog with it! They cheated!

Well if your dog gets into sniffing cocaine, then I think you’d be alright to track.

 

[sw1tcher]

The search warrant does not provide details on why the DEA opted to use an AirTag over another kind of GPS-based tracking device, but it mentioned that the "precise location information" would let investigators "obtain evidence about where such individuals store drugs and/or drug proceeds, where they obtain controlled substances, and where else they distribute them."

A retired detective that spoke to Forbes speculated that the DEA may have used an AirTag because it offers more reliable connectivity than other devices, or because of past failures of the GPS devices available to police.

My guess would have been that criminals use burner phones. An iPhone would make for an expensive burner phone, so odds are better that criminials use cheap Android-based phones or cheap dumb (flip) phones as their burners. The use of non-iPhones means they're less likely to detect an AirTag nearby.

 

[erinsarah]

It seems to me it would not take much for the DEA to partner with Apple on a new product designed specifically for and only used by the DEA to track stuff like this without the stalker safeguards.

 

[DotCom2]

someone please make a parody commercial of the DEA + Apple collab.

Timothee Chalamet?

 

[sw1tcher]

Sure, it's an interesting use case, but wasn't the address where the package was going available and visible to the border agents / DEA? In other words, why was an airtag needed to track it?

You think the address where the package was being sent is where the drug operations was? Of course not.

You let the recipient take possession of package then follow the recipient/package to the location of operations and make a bigger bust instead of busting just 1 person (the addressee).

 

[Charlie.V]

Wouldn’t the AirTag notify the people transporting the drugs that it is travelling alongside them? Did Apple make a special exception and disable that feature with this particular tracker?

 

[Spaceboi Scaphandre]

And you are here posting about it and what you do and where you work? Hmmm.

I'm a sysadmin for a federal data center that hosts several of the US government's websites such as the VA, Medicare, the IRS, and more. What I just told y'all is not confidential information. We're not the War Thunder forums lmao

 

[SSDGUY]

Soon someone will discover a bear that died from ingesting 34 kilos of AirTags.