Drug smuggling is on the rise, and there seems to be no way of stunting its growth. Drug smuggling is an illegal smuggling trade including the manufacture, cultivation, distribution, and sale of substances which are subject to drug prohibited laws (CITE). Drug smugglers have developed many ways to carry or transport drugs. For example, women couriers will frequently replace bra padding with powdered substances or cocaine.
Many people change their jacket padding and shoe soles in the same way. Certain smuggling operations use children as couriers, believing that as they conduct searches, law enforcement officials will allow them to pass. They can also smuggle by using planes, boats, carrier pigeons, and cocaine cast and shipping it (Stone et al.).
Another technique used by smugglers is to hide many drugs in condoms, in tiny rubber packages, and in balloons. To swallow these packages, they used lubricants and then took laxatives to recover them. Most of the time, they use these packages under the skin of animals to protect humans from risks. Smuggling in different countries can be done by underground tunnels, and these tunnels are equipped with a drainage system, electric lighting, and trolleys to carry the drugs (LaSusa). Criminal groups have developed submarines to transport drugs, and they are extremely close to the surface and hard to detect. They used catapults and canons made from compressed air guns to fire drugs over the borders. Where many authorities have begun using drones to detect drugs, the smugglers, on the other hand, also use the same technology for drug smuggling, and to land the drugs on the soil, they have also used ultra-light one-person planes (Daugherty). These aircraft are hard to detect by radar and drones, so drug cartels easily use these technologies for smuggling.
Works Cited
Daugherty, Arron. Latin America’s Top 5 Alternative Drug Trafficking Methods. Insightcrime, 2015.
LaSusa, Mike. 5 Clever Ways Mexico Cartels Move Drugs Across US Border. 4 Oct. 2016, https://www.insightcrime.org/news/analysis/5-clever-ways-mexico-cartels-move-drugs-over-us-border/.
Stone, Curt, et al. 9 Creative Ways to Smuggle Contraband across Borders. 4 July 2013, https://www.pri.org/stories/2013-07-04/9-creative-ways-smuggle-contraband-across-borders.
