Drug smugglers becoming more creative (EDITED)

Drug traffickers are throwing everything they got in getting drugs into the United States any way they can. Near the Mexican border, officials have found drugs smuggled in things such as tables, toys, furniture, holiday candles, even tennis shoes. Drugs also are brought in underground through tunnels.

The smuggling organizations are well established and sophisticated. They have the latest technology, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement. Border agents have found radios, cells phones and global positioning system tracking devices, leading officials to believe drug cartels close to the border are in constant contact with drug runners. Click here for photos of creative techniques drug smugglers are using

Drugs are also being smuggled in the waters of the eastern Pacific off the coasts of Central and South America. U.S. Coast Guards will find pounds of pure cocaine. Drug traffickers have become very aggressive in their smuggling tactics. With new trends they are using vessels that are less detectable.

Known as SPSS, "self-propelled semi-submersibles are like submarines". Anywhere from several inches to a couple of feet remain above the water line; they are painted a blue or gray for camouflage, and they are flat on top with valves and air holes. They are difficult to detect and have become increasingly better. Some can travel up to 5,000 miles and use fuel tanks for ballast. They can carry some seven to 10 tons of drugs, and because of their low profiles and low radar signatures. According to National News, the submersibles are about 40 feet long, go 40 knots and can carry several tons of heroin or cocaine. The drugs then go to Mexico, where the cargo is offloaded and transported across the border into the U.S.

Watch the ways in which drugs are moved to the U.S.

For the Coast Guards, evidence of drug smuggling needed for prosecution is hard because traffickers can escape by opening a hatch, tossing out a life raft and then scuttling the vessel to the bottom of the ocean along with its cargo. A U.S. law signed in January makes it illegal to operate a stateless SPSS and will allow the Coast Guard to arrest people it used to have to release because drug evidence was on the bottom of the ocean. Drug smugglers will put it anywhere they can, and are very creative in creating their own compartments and concealing them. (CNN)

With border security tighter than ever, drug traffickers are paying kids as young as 14 to smuggle dope. Drug traffickers often bribe Mexican police and U.S. agents. With billions of dollars cartels will try anything. There will never be a way to completely stop the drug smuggling that is coming into our country.

The reason for drug trafficking is because there is so much money to be made from it that nothing else can compare. The source of the problem is not Colombia or Mexico it is the drug users that this country produces by the millions. The only way to stop drug trafficking is to legalize it. Making drugs legal would drastically reduce the profitability of trafficking drugs. Other than that, there is absolutely nothing that can be done. More restrictions lead to higher prices leads to more people trying to smuggle. It’s a cycle.

We'll never stop drug trafficking, we can just hope to slow it down.

Sources:
http://www.cnn.com
http:/www.usdoj.gov/dea
http://www.thenassauguardian.com/national_local
Pictures - http://www.mademan.com
Video-http://www.clipsyndicate.com