“Where there’s a will there’s a way” is a famous proverb, meaning that if someone
is determined enough to do something, they’ll find a way to accomplish it regardless of
the obstacles.
This is especially true as it pertains to drug cartels who will do just about anything
to ensure their products get delivered to their clients in the U.S.
So, what are some methods that are used to sneak drugs past border patrol?
Well, let’s put it to you this way, if you can think it, odds are it has been attempted
before.
The U.S.-Mexican border has been increasing its security lately with the deployment of
active duty troops, which reflect the budding militarization of the area.
States that border with Mexico include California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.
As of 2018, two thousand National Guard Personnel guard this line with roughly half of them
in Texas and the other half spread out throughout California, Arizona and New Mexico.
With so much protection, it can be difficult to envision cartels delivering drugs into
the country successfully.
So, how on Earth do they do it?
Before we delve into all the creative methods that have been used to smuggle drugs, we thought
we’d first examine some research to look at why drugs are a problem and the extent
of its severity to better understand what we’re dealing with.
A 2015 report from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration explained that drug overdoses
were responsible for more deaths in the U.S. than car accidents or gunshots.
Some deaths were due to prescription drugs, others by cocaine, and many from the use of
heroin.
In terms of opioid overdose, Ohio ranks supreme with the highest death toll in the U.S.
About 5,000 people are said to die from opioid overdoses in Ohio each year.
This state also has one of the largest female prison populations in the country with 35%
of charges against women being drug related.
Drugs are an extremely powerful substance and can control the mind like an unstoppable
force.
Experiments on rats in the 1970’s provided us with a lot of information on the issue.
Scientists found that, when given the opportunity, rats would choose to consume heroin or cocaine
relentlessly to the point of destroying their bodies and brains until death overcame them
through overdose.
It can be difficult to resist because drugs trigger the pleasure center part of the brain,
which reinforce an organism to consume more of the substance.
This explains why campaigns that preach the slogan, “just say no,” often prove to
be ineffective at stopping drug use.
Drugs can magically alter our moods and shift us from feeling depressed and lonely to being
happy and optimistic.
Thus, it can be difficult to “just say no” to a solution for your awful feeling.
Not all drugs are bad and under the right circumstances, when monitored by a medical
professional, they can be extraordinarily helpful for relieving the suffering of people
who are experiencing very painful medical conditions.
We spoke with some clinicians who explained that if there is a high rate of abuse or suspicion
of drug abuse, this can often make doctors uneasy about prescribing certain prescription
medications in fear of aiding the development of addiction.
This can be extraordinarily difficult for people who truly need it for moderate to severe
discomfort.
Drugs in the wrong hands may also lead to seizures and higher rates of crime.
According to aforeverrecovery.com, “a national survey shows that more than 32% of state prisoners
and 26% of federal prisoners were using drugs when they committed their crimes.”
Does this imply that drugs directly cause people to commit crimes?
Of course not.
But it may suggest there exists a correlational relationship between the two.
It is not surprising that mind-altering substances can pose as an influential factor on the thought
processes that lead to certain behavioral outcomes, such as with acts of criminality.
For instance, if a drug makes you feel invulnerable, you may then believe that you can get away
with anything.
If you take a hallucinogen, on the other hand, you may experience hallucinations or delusions
that cause you to lose your sense of reality, such as having voices in your head telling
you what to do.
So, now you might be wondering what types of drugs are smuggled into the U.S.?
For this we examined the statistics of most commonly trafficked drugs into the US as well
as the percentages of offenses per drug.
Going in ascending order, statistics show that oxycodone consists of 4.6%, heroin has
higher rates up to 9.8%, crack cocaine is set at 13.1%, and marijuana resides at 21.5%.
Cocaine and methamphetamine consist of the most commonly smuggled drugs at roughly 24%.
Although Mexico isn’t the only culprit, it is said to be the source of most forbidden
drugs that enter the US.
Now we turn to answer the question you’ve been patiently waiting for: how do they do
it?
When you see how heavily guarded the border crossing is, it might appear impossible.
Yet, there are a multitude of creative and ingenious ways that drugs have attempted to
get across.
Our first examples relate to the use of smuggling drugs by air from the ground.
This includes the use of catapults.
Now, we can guess what you’re probably thinking right now.
A catapult, really?
In multiple instances, cartels were caught using giant catapults to hurl drugs over the
border into the U.S. where someone would retrieve them on the other side of the fence.
Catapults have been found on numerous occasions on the Arizona-Mexican border, flinging sacks
filled with drugs roughly 328 feet.
To put this into better perspective, that’s further than the height of London’s Big
Ben clock tower if this iconic landmark were to be propped horizontally across a large
stretch of land.
Talk about jumping the fence!
In some instances, t-shirt cannons were also used to shoot drugs over the border.
This may be unsurprising when considering that this staple of sporting events has often
been used to fire contraband into prison yards as well.
Mexican authorities also found and seized a homemade bazooka that was being used to
launch marijuana into the United States.
NPR explained that this bazooka had been adapted specifically to use a compressor for shooting
out drugs.
Mexican officials seized some 1,800 pounds worth of marijuana that may have reached the
U.S. by use of this bazooka.
Finally, it may come to no surprise that drug smugglers would utilize the advent of drones.
The Washington Examiner reported data showing that 15 drones had been spotted between Tijuana,
Mexico and Southern California from late 2017 to 2018.
These drones carried drugs attached to them while flying over the border.
Drones are also often used to spy on border patrol agents with a camera from hundreds
of feet above.
Since federal law enforcement agents do not yet have any tools for detecting drones, they
must mostly rely on their eyes and ears.
Even if they do spot one, however, they cannot shoot it down with their guns without approval,
which leaves them pretty helpless to do anything about it for the most part.
Also, because a person flying a drone can operate it from a few hundred feet to a couple
of miles away, he may be very tough to locate.
For this reason, owners of drones have often been able to avoid capture by U.S. federal
law enforcement.
So, the next time your curiosity consumes you and you decide to use your drone to harmlessly
spy on your neighbor’s newly installed backyard swimming pool, you might consider that you’re
using a device that a drug smuggler would love to have his hands on.
Your neighbor, however, probably won’t be too thrilled about it and you might overhear
some yelling that sounds something sort of like, “darn you crazy kids!”
We hope for their sake and yours that they’re not in the middle of skinny dipping when you
do this.
That could be a disturbing and embarrassing scene.
So, we’ve discussed methods of drug smuggling by air.
What about underground?
In 1990, a tunnel was discovered, which ran 273 feet under the ground from a luxurious
home in Agua Prieta, Mexico to a warehouse in Arizona.
Oddly, this tunnel was equipped with electrical lighting, a drainage system and a trolley
for transporting the drugs.
An entire, fancy operation was being conducted beneath the surface and no one had any idea.
What made it even more high-tech, according to insightcrime.org, was that it possessed
a “hidden switch inside the luxury home that, when activated, boosted a pool table
and concrete slab below it high into the air to open the way to a narrow shaft below.”
We must admit, that sounds pretty cool.
One of the biggest tunnels was discovered in April 2016.
It ran half a mile from a house in Tijuana, Mexica to an industrial property in San Diego.
It, also, was equipped with lighting, rails and a ventilation system.
The tunnel was designed to transport huge amounts of drugs – we’re talking tons!
This just goes to show how far people are willing to use their ingenuity when it comes
to earning profit from dealing drugs.
We suppose this is what you get when you combine drugs with too much spare time.
Now let’s delve into some of the most insane ways that drugs have been attempted to smuggle
into the US.
From cargo boxes to the inside of cars, there are many imaginative and innovative methods
people have utilized in the attempt to sneak drugs into the U.S.
Often, religious items, relics or associations have been used by smugglers to appear innocent,
wholesome, and to try to evade suspicion.
This was the case in 2013 when three women from Colombia attempted to smuggle 4.4 pounds
of cocaine that was strapped to their legs while they were dressed as nuns.
Crossing the Mexican-United States border into Texas in 2008, an elderly woman was found
driving with a 7-pound memento, a statue of Jesus.
She probably thought that, being old in combination with possessing a religious item would make
her appear like the epitome of virtue, but she underestimated the powerful smelling ability
of canine noses.
Drug sniffing dogs went crazy over the statue’s scent, but, initially, officials didn’t
find any drugs inside of it.
They later found that this was because the statue itself was the drug.
It was molded out of plaster that had been mixed with cocaine.
We’re not entirely sure how the receivers of the statue planned on taking the cocaine
from it, but we suppose they would have thought of some way to do it.
Still, if you find yourself putting forth a lot of effort to erode a Jesus statue for
a hit, it’s possible that it may be time to reassess what you’re doing with your
life.
This occasion wasn’t the first time an elderly woman was used to cross the border with drugs.
On August 8, 2018, an 81-year-old woman was also driving in her car when she was stopped
by CBP agents.
The dogs also smelled something suspicious radiating from her vehicle, a 2011 Chrysler
200.
Upon investigation, agents discovered $870,000 worth of heroin stashed inside.
Now, we don’t mean inside the car in plain view like on top of the seat.
We mean literally inside the car, stuffed in its rocker panels.
In case you don’t know a lot about the internal structure of cars, the rocker panel is located
along the sides of the vehicle between the front and rear wheel, basically below the
doors.
You lift your feet over this each time you climb in and out of your car.
A lot of people probably don’t normally consider using this part of their car to hide
things so that’s pretty creative!
In October of the same year, nine people were arrested when conspiring to sneak meth into
Hawaii.
The drugs were disguised as decorative artifacts, such as Aztec calendars and statues.
Simple souvenirs?
We think not.
One of the wildest attempts to sneak across the border occurred on October 30, 2012 when
a makeshift ramp was created to scale the 14-foot-tall border fence.
A jeep presumably containing marijuana attempted to drive over this ramp into the United States
from Mexico.
The perpetrators’ plot was foiled, however, when the jeep got stuck at the top of the
fence.
It started teetering, which made the two intruders panic and flee back to Mexico.
It’s comical to imagine the reactions on the faces of officials when they first arrived
at the scene.
They probably mumbled something to each other like, “Well, now I’ve seen everything.”
Although our next examples did not occur at the U.S. border, we think these make for honorable
mentions.
We must use full disclosure though and warn you that these methods may be disturbing,
and we wouldn’t recommend that you continue watching if you have a weak stomach or tend
to get queasy easily.
As we’ve discussed, people will use just about anything to smuggle drugs, including
their own bodies.
The best-known method for this is to ingest tightly wrapped balloons full of drugs and
transport them in the stomach.
This not only disgusting but dangerous.
In 2015, a 24-year-old Brazilian man was on a flight to Dublin from Lisbon.
Out of nowhere, he became fiercely agitated before collapsing to the floor.
He was later found dead after one out of 80 pellets, holding nearly 2 pounds worth of
cocaine, burst in his stomach.
In December 2012, a Colombian woman flying to Berlin tried to smuggle drugs inside breast
implants.
She probably figured that she’d get away with it because airport officials wouldn’t
dare ask to search her there in fear of being accused of sexual harassment.
She could have gotten away with it if she didn’t start complaining of severe pain.
The agony became too unbearable to endure any longer, which pushed her to admit that
she was carrying 2.2 pounds of cocaine in her breasts and seek help.
More recently in 2018, a Brazilian man wanted to transport 2.2 pounds of cocaine into Portugal.
He did this by using padded swimming trunks.
The drugs were stored inside a pair of fake butt cheeks, made of two cushion-like implants
that were attached to his shorts.
We suppose that, like the breast implant woman, he thought he could get away with pretending
to have a huge rear end.
If officials grew suspicious and asked to search him, he could simply act insulted and
say something like, “no, I’m not carrying anything.
That’s just my butt.
Hands off please.”
But the man did not fool anyone, and police quickly caught on to his scheme.
What do you think of our picks for examples of drug smuggling?
Is there anything we missed?
Here with the Infographics Show, we’re always interested to learn about your opinion, so
feel free to let us know in the comments!
Also, be sure to check out our other video the Insane Way El Chapo Escaped Prison!
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See you next time!