Same Drugs, New Tricks

Heroin-laced artwork, drugs surgically implanted in canines, automobiles featuring secret compartments loaded with cocaine.  There seem to be few limits to the extreme measures taken by international drug smugglers, whose daily cat-and-mouse game with border officials has led to increasingly ingenious concealment techniques. Drug Enforcement and U.S. Customs officials captured some of these bizarre tactics in photos obtained by ABC News. Last week, the U.S. Attorney of the Southern District of New York announced the seizure of over 250 pounds of heroin, a portion of which was concealed in furniture, sandals, golf bags and ingested condoms. Traffickers, who, according to DEA authorities, were working for a major Colombian drug operation, sewed the heroin into the lining of the furniture and bags and stuffed the narcotic into the soles of the sandals before shipping the merchandise across U.S. borders.  In another bizarre episode, U.S. Customs Authorities at JFK Airport arrested a Colombian National who, according to Department of Homeland Security officials, super-glued forty blocks of heroin to his scalp and attempted to conceal the arrangement under a wig. "Hollywood couldn’t come up with some of this stuff," says Steve Robertson, a Special Agent with the Drug Enforcement Agency and 18-year veteran of border patrol. He cited a much-publicized scheme, exposed by DEA officials earlier this year, where smugglers surgically implanted packets of liquid heroin in dogs and disemboweled the animals once inside the U.S. The perpetrators also hid heroin in body creams, aerosol cans and the lining of purses and double-sided luggage. According to Mr. Robertson, one of the more worrisome trends in drug trafficking has been an increase in technological savvy. He recalls automotive enhancements, such as motorized trap doors and secret compartments, that he likened to "something out of Star Wars." He described automobiles equipped with pop-up compartments that could only be opened when specific functions were operating, such as running the headlights, air conditioning, radio and motor simultaneously. "Some of the ingenuity of these guys is just startling," he says. "It makes you wonder what these individuals could do if they applied their intelligence to a socially productive end rather than selling out to the big profits of drug trafficking." While traditional canine detectives remain indispensable to border authorities, Robertson cites information-sharing as the most successful tool in thwarting drug traffickers.  "If we see a new concealment technique, we’ll pass the information around to other authorities so they’ll be prepared," he says. "Keeping ourselves fully informed of what our opponents are doing gives us the best chance of stopping them."