Sophisticated drug operations disguise heroin to look like food and candy
As the opioid crisis continues, and law enforcement tries to crack down on the flow of drugs, international cartels are stepping up their operations, embedding heroin inside of packaging that looks like store-bought food and candy.
The smugglers are exploiting a glaring weaknesses in US border security, namely – parcels shipped through the mail, UPS and FedEx travel on transit systems with relatively little security, like Amtrak. Using packages that are factory-sealed and show no signs of tampering, the shipments arrive in port cities like Baltimore appearing to be all kinds of candy and food, making it very difficult for agents to identify and track.
These type of sophisticated operations highlight why simply trying to build a wall along the US border is not going to stop the flow of drugs. “A lot of people think of these drug trafficking organizations as gangs, and they are not. These organizations are a very adaptive adversary,” said Jayson P. Ahern, the former acting commissioner of Customs and Border Protection under President George W. Bush. “If we cut off one of their transportation networks like at the border, they are still going to try to move their goods to market by other means.”
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To learn more about how packaged drugs are flowing in Baltimore, please visit the New York Times.