Drug smugglers push boundaries of creativity
The recent arrest of Mexican drug lord “El Chapo,” and reports of the billion-dollar fortune he amassed, underlined the scope of the international narcotics trade. It was also a reminder that, as long as we’ve had patrolled borders and contraband, there has been a criminal element trying to beat the system. There have been many elaborate and wacky attempts to get drugs into both Canada and the U.S. over the years. Paul Hunter details some recent examples from both sides of the border:
Powdered fruit Canada Border Services Agency officers working at Pearson Airport last year inspected a shipment of 34 cardboard boxes and plastic bags containing what was declared as fresh produce. X-rays of one bag showed inconsistencies. Upon further inspection, they found mixed in with real breadfruit two plaster ones painted lime green. The fake breadfruit contained almost four kilograms of cocaine.
Got his goat Aman arrived from Trinidad at New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport in 2014 with a large black suitcase. When customs officers examined the case, they found three packages of frozen goat meat. X-rays revealed that each contained a square object. A customs agent, according to court documents, “drilled into the packages and discovered a powdery-white substance.” The meat contained more than three kilograms of cocaine.
Chocolate coating It seemed odd to an American customs agent that a man would have 45 chocolate bars in his checked luggage on a flight from Los Angeles to Japan in 2012. So they examined the individually wrapped bars and found each contained a white substance coated in a “chocolate-like substance.” Giving a whole new meaning to Almond Joy, the bars were found to contain almost two kilos of methamphetamine.
Juiced-up java Two men returning to Canada from Germany in 2013 brought with them several thermal coffee carafes. An interesting souvenir, but an X-ray at the Calgary International Airport revealed a suspicious mass within the sides of each container. Seven of the carafes contained a total of about five kilograms of opium.
The dog ate my opium The golden statuettes of dogs, swans and elephants from something called the Palermo Collection were a little tacky, but they weren’t sent through a Montreal mail-processing centre in 2013 for their esthetic value. Like a lot of art, they had a hidden meaning. X-rays of the package from Turkey revealed irregular masses inside the statuettes that were brownish and smelly. It was more than six kilograms of opium.