5 crazy ways drug cartels smuggle to America.
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Drug smugglers over the years have had many ingenious/stupid/innovative ways to smuggle narcotics across borders. These are 5 of the craziest.
5: Hollowing out anything and everything.
In 2011 a woman, subtly brought 3 bags of kidney beans and pistachios from Colombia to America. Obviously this aroused suspicion, inside these three bags were over 6 kilograms of cocaine, estimated to worth over $250,000. This woman had painstakingly cut open kidney beans individually hollowed them out and filled it with cocaine. She was apparently paid $15,000 for this audacious attempt.It doesn't stop there either, over $1,000,000 worth of cocaine was intercepted at Heathrow Airport, UK, which was stuffed inside Bananas that were then sown back up. Surely it would arise suspicion to any border agent when any comes to the country with a suitcase full of bananas? Apparently not, as orange, coconuts, watermelons, pineapples, apples, and even a hollowed out tree has been used.
4: Wearing the Cocaine.
You read that right. In 2005 a 66 year old man, had his leg broken by cartels, they then used a cast made from solid cocaine fitted to his leg. Weighing over 5 Kilos and being completely ineffectual the man was in agony in the airport. The five Kilos would be worth about $200,000. To eke out even more money cocaine was also smuggled inside empty cans inside the man’s bag.At JFK airport a fake leg was filled with over 20 pounds of cocaine, worth over a quarter of a million of dollars, the man was a real amputee, although wasn't a result of the smuggling. Drugs are often found in faked teeth, and even ingested in plastic bags.
3: Driving any way they can over and under the border.
The most notorious of any border is the American/Mexican border, the most frequently crossed border in the world, and with the largest trafficking of drugs
Drug smugglers over the years have had many ingenious/stupid/innovative ways to smuggle narcotics across borders. These are 5 of the craziest.
5: Hollowing out anything and everything.
In 2011 a woman, subtly brought 3 bags of kidney beans and pistachios from Colombia to America. Obviously this aroused suspicion, inside these three bags were over 6 kilograms of cocaine, estimated to worth over $250,000. This woman had painstakingly cut open kidney beans individually hollowed them out and filled it with cocaine. She was apparently paid $15,000 for this audacious attempt.It doesn't stop there either, over $1,000,000 worth of cocaine was intercepted at Heathrow Airport, UK, which was stuffed inside Bananas that were then sown back up. Surely it would arise suspicion to any border agent when any comes to the country with a suitcase full of bananas? Apparently not, as orange, coconuts, watermelons, pineapples, apples, and even a hollowed out tree has been used.
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| There seems to be a bit of a 'crack' in that one. |
4: Wearing the Cocaine.
You read that right. In 2005 a 66 year old man, had his leg broken by cartels, they then used a cast made from solid cocaine fitted to his leg. Weighing over 5 Kilos and being completely ineffectual the man was in agony in the airport. The five Kilos would be worth about $200,000. To eke out even more money cocaine was also smuggled inside empty cans inside the man’s bag.At JFK airport a fake leg was filled with over 20 pounds of cocaine, worth over a quarter of a million of dollars, the man was a real amputee, although wasn't a result of the smuggling. Drugs are often found in faked teeth, and even ingested in plastic bags.
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| He has no leg to stand on in court |
3: Driving any way they can over and under the border.
The most notorious of any border is the American/Mexican border, the most frequently crossed border in the world, and with the largest trafficking of drugs
Tunnels are the holy grail of smuggling routes. The first drug tunnel was discovered in 1990, since then over 100 have been found crossing the border. The tunnel was hidden under a pool table moved by pneumatic lifts. Most tunnels are only 100 metres long and a foot high. One of the largest ever found to be over 800 metres long and 3 feet high. The tunnels had a rail system, heating, air, and a lighting system. A super tunnel like this can make 100 million dollars a year.
Ultra light aero planes have been used for many years; planes weighing less than 200 kilograms will carry 40 kilograms of cannabis will fly at the dead of night with no lights to drop of these packages worth $25,000. It is estimated that this technique is $50 million business.
Both of these techniques are high-tech and very clever, but some of the smuggling techniques are beautifully simple. Cars with ramps will drive up to American border fence and then up to 40 cars will drive over the ramps into America each of them smuggling up a million dollars worth of narcotics. Cranes have also been used, to simply lift the cars over then fence.
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| I guess drug cartels can't be high all the time |
2: Naval smuggling.
Easily the most ingenious method though, are the naval routes taken. The cartels use semi-submerged submarines that can carry up to 8 tonnes of cocaine, over 500 million dollars worth. The submarines are only partly visible at the surface allowing them to be super sneaky when getting across the naval border as they have a very low heat signature and are basically invisible. The government estimate to only catch 1 in 10 of all cargos. Entire home made full functioning submarines have also been found.
Another ingenious method are torpedo like storages that can be dragged behind by any boat, carrying up to 400 kilograms of cocaine. If they are approached by law enforcement the line is cut, so the boat has no incriminating evidence. Then radio beacons allow the torpedo to be picked back up. Sometimes large boxes are attached to the hull of a ship by divers. These can carry hundred of kilos of cocaine, often without the crew knowing, these are then retrieved once the shipment arrives in America.
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| With $500m I reckon you could buy a better submarine |
1: A fucking catapult
Drug smuggling was finally brought into the 21st century when in 2011, a Cannabis catapult was found. Incredibly this ingenious solution had not been thought of before. The catapult could sling 40 pounds a minute or $36,000 worth of cannabis. They are estimated to make 15 million dollars a year each and incredibly multiple catapults have been found.
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| "The old ones are the best" |
Hopefully this article has been intriguing and given you some insightful tips in how to smuggle drugs across the border next time. Considering the ingenuity of the drug cartels in creating functioning submarines, I wonder how many methods have not been discovered. Please do not mistake this article though as me supporting the drug cartels , I have not included the far more shameful methods of smuggling, including human drug mules swallowing hundred of cocaine pills, sewing the pills into dogs, and even attaching them to carrier pigeons.