SAN DIEGO (NewsNation) — Police in Tijuana, Mexico, have deployed a specialized drone unit equipped with artificial intelligence and thermal imaging to combat one of the world's most dangerous threats: drug cartels battling for smuggling routes along the U.S.-Mexico border.

NewsNation headed across the border to see the unit, led by Commander Fernando Silvia, which operates 14 high-tech drones that can reach crime scenes in under two minutes. The drones provide real-time aerial surveillance that police say is saving officers' lives in a city plagued by violence.

Tijuana, a border metropolis of more than 2 million people, records more than 2,000 homicides annually as rival cartels fight for control of lucrative drug trafficking routes into the United States.

The drones are outfitted with

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