The Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) is reporting that the United States (US) plans to step up the use of Predator drones in the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico as it increases drug smugglingsurveillance.

Predator drones were used by American Intelligence to find and kill al-Qaida suspects in Pakistan and Yemen.

The US Department of Homeland Security officials said Washington has been quietly testing the drones over the Bahamas for more than 18 months.

They say the latest move would dramatically increase US drone flights in the Western Hemisphere, more than doubling the number of square miles now covered by the Department of Homeland Security’s fleet of nine surveillance drones, which are used primarily on the northern and southwestern US borders.