NCJ Number
142268
Date Published
Unknown
Length
5 pages
Annotation
In Texas today, most narcotics are smuggled into the State via large commercial vehicles. In the mid-1970's, most drug traffickers used small aircraft and marine vessels to smuggle their contraband; for several years after, they used small passenger cars, which enabled them to smuggle many loads a week, with little risk attached to any one load.
Abstract
Drug smugglers do not rely solely on hiding their illicit cargo among legitimate goods; however, cabbage and onions, because of their strong smell, are popular cover loads. Cylinders welded around tire rims can each hold about 16 kilos of cocaine. Saddle tanks, cut in two and then welded back together, can be filled half with fuel and half with narcotics. False compartments in a tractor-trailer can be detected by looking at consistency between rivets, measuring the inside and outside dimensions of the truck, and checking insulation that may be replaced by drugs. Drug law enforcement officers in Texas have also found contraband hidden in the cylinder blocks of a piece of highway equipment and in the fender of a passenger car. Unfortunately, many of the drug smuggling rings operating in the area are well established and have the unlimited budgets which police departments find impossible to match.