Uncovering Smugglers' Secrets
Cars are still a smuggling agent for drug dealers looking to turn a profit.
Drug Traps: Uncovering the Smugglers' Secrets
In the classic 1971 movie "The French Connection," the Corsican heroin dealers hid their heroin beneath the rocker panels of a Lincoln Mark III with the French license plate 18 LU 13.
The real car used in the dope case on which the movie was based was a 1960 Buick Invicta, French plate 18 LU 75. Its wheel wells and rocker panels were packed with dope, as it arrived on New York's docks.
This slideshow features some of the tricks used by drug smugglers in the last year to turn a profit in what the U.N. estimates is a $300 billion-a-year business. Like the movie, these dealers hide their wares in the "traps" of cars.
At left, authorities inspect the undercarriage of a pickup truck for hidden, illicit drugs.
(DEA)
