Dan Bloom wrote an article for Daily Mail, introducing creative and innovative ways of trafficking drugs across borders and describing operations orchestrated by relatively small and loosely structured organizations.
These efforts, such as filling empty beer cans with narcotics and surgically implanting drugs in pet labradors, demonstrate the ever-evolving methods and techniques used by drug traffickers to move illegal substances across borders.
Smuggling and Operational Methods
The smuggling and operational methods mentioned in Dan Bloom’s article can be grouped as follows:
- Commercial air courier operations, such as someone using a skull-shaped packet of cocaine under a black wig while flying
- Couriers using other modes of transport, such as smuggling marijuana on a surfboard across the US-Mexico border
- Hiding drugs among unaccompanied legitimate commerce, such as traffickers filling furniture with more than five tonnes of cannabis, worth £12 million, through a port on the coast of England (the details of the drugs being unaccompanied among legitimate cargo are assumed from the article but not confirmed)
Calculated Chance of Success
Of the above, efforts where narcotics have been hidden in existing cargo present a rational and calculated chance of success. Hiding large volumes of contraband in unaccompanied, legitimate cargo presents an important smuggling strategy.
The necessary manpower is limited to supplying and receiving the narcotics, not the actual transition. As long as a connection with or access to a legitimate cargo company is established, large volumes of drugs can be trafficked via port entry without necessarily making the commercial shipper complicit in the scheme, reducing the risk of arrest and the number of players involved.
The Risk of Couriers
Most of the efforts mentioned in Dan Bloom’s article are carried out by couriers who have failed (without suggesting previous successes using the same method). The argument that using a courier is high risk aligns with Caulkins et al.’s paper that explores how illegal drugs enter the United Kingdom. The paper reveals that most interviewees acted as couriers and were caught on their first attempt at trafficking drugs, with the arrest risk being considerable, especially for novices (implying that there is a skill to master and succeed as a courier). Costs include the fee-for-service arrangement, the travel ticket, the cost of the drugs (limited to what a single person can carry or transport), and the high risk of a snitch.
Overall, using a courier is a small-time operation with high risk and moderate reward. Assessing the situation further, the existence of X-rays that can identify ingested narcotics and sniffer dogs that can smell a range of drugs at major airports increases the risk of discovery among commercial air couriers. Land and port border control also use scanning technology, but as reported by Bernstein in NBC Montana, CBP currently scans only 2% of all private passenger vehicles and 16% of commercial vehicles at land borders, suggesting that the risk of detection is fairly low compared to commercial air options.
Additional operational Methods
One operational method not mentioned in Bloom’s article is using corrupt truck drivers to smuggle drugs across borders, arguably the most lucrative method with the lowest risk of being captured. Caulkins et al. describe how truck driver operations span several years without being caught, move large volumes of illicit cargo, and involve smaller groups of minor players to split profits.
Perhaps the fact that none of these “corrupt vehicle operator” efforts are mentioned in Bloom’s article is a testament to the success of the method, or perhaps the lack of this operational method on the list suggests that it is not creative enough to be featured. Regardless, this operational method offers relatively low barriers to entry with a high chance of success, making it a viable option for rationally-acting smuggling operations.
References
- Bernstein, L. (2019). Vehicle scanning technology at the border is about to ruin the drug trade. NBC Montana. Accessed on September 10, 2023, from https://nbcmontana.com/news/nation-world/vehicle-scanning-technology-at-the-border-is-about-to-ruin-the-drug-trade
- Bloom, D. (2009). Busted! Ingenious (but failed) attempts by the world's drug dealers to outsmart customs using fake nappies, surfboards, and bottles of Champagne. Mail Online. Accessed on September 10, 2023, from https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2711652/Busted-Ingenious-failed-attempts-world-s-drug-dealers-outsmart-customs-using-fake-nappies-surfboards-bottles-Champagne.html
- Caulkins, J.P., Burnett, H., & Leslie, E. (2009). How illegal drugs enter an island country: Insights from interviews with incarcerated smugglers. Global Crime 10(1&2), 66-93