slimvictor
Bluelight Crew
(...)
On the morning of November 16, 2010, Andres drove his 2007 Ford Focus to the Stanton Street Bridge border crossing as he'd done every day for years.
On that day, Customs and Border Protection agents singled him out for a random search and discovered two bags of marijuana in the trunk of his car. He told the agents he had no idea how the drugs got there, but because there was no evidence that his trunk had been tampered with, he was arrested and detained.
"I knew it wasn't right, I didn't know what it was" he says, referring to the two black duffel bags agents found. "I was so afraid. ... All I was thinking was, 'How could that happen?' I had no clue."
(...)
Andres says he was certain there was nothing in his trunk when he headed across the border last year.
"The night before, I went to buy groceries, [and] I took all the groceries out [of the trunk]," he recalled. "I knew there was nothing there."
Andres was charged with drug possession with the intent to distribute. He spent six months in various U.S. jails awaiting trial.
(...)
How the scam works
Drug cartels were well aware of the SENTRI pass system and concocted a plan to take advantage of it. Jesus Chavez and Carlos Alberto Gomez, both Mexican citizens living in Texas, were recently accused in a 20-page criminal complaint of doing just that.
According to the complaint, Chavez and Gomez allegedly paid lookouts to monitor SENTRI pass drivers -- noting the time of day, as well as the make, model and color of their cars -- as they drove over the bridge.
The lookouts targeted students and professionals who typically have consistent routines.
Once they identified a possible target, they followed the car as it returned to the Mexican side of the border. Then, they approached the car at night, copied the vehicle identification number (VIN) off the dashboard and gave the number to Chavez and Gomez.
They also planted GPS tracking devices on the car so they could monitor its movements between Juarez and El Paso.
The complaint alleges that Chavez and Gomez took the VIN to a Texas-based locksmith who had access to key code sources for the vehicles. With that information, the locksmith made two keys for each vehicle -- one for Chavez and Gomez, and the other for Juarez-based accomplices.
The co-conspirators allegedly used their copy of the key to unlock the trunk of the target vehicle at night and place two duffel bags inside. The bags contained about 60 pounds of marijuana each and were both secured with zip ties.
The unsuspecting driver transported the drugs across the border unknowingly, and according to the complaint, Chavez and Gomez retrieved the drugs using their key once the driver was in the United States.
It was a simple, effective plan. But there was one problem: All the cases had striking similarities. And that caught the eye of a judge -- but not until after innocent people, like Andres, had been convicted of smuggling drugs.
cont at
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/01/23/world/americas/mexico-blind-drug-mules/index.html
On the morning of November 16, 2010, Andres drove his 2007 Ford Focus to the Stanton Street Bridge border crossing as he'd done every day for years.
On that day, Customs and Border Protection agents singled him out for a random search and discovered two bags of marijuana in the trunk of his car. He told the agents he had no idea how the drugs got there, but because there was no evidence that his trunk had been tampered with, he was arrested and detained.
"I knew it wasn't right, I didn't know what it was" he says, referring to the two black duffel bags agents found. "I was so afraid. ... All I was thinking was, 'How could that happen?' I had no clue."
(...)
Andres says he was certain there was nothing in his trunk when he headed across the border last year.
"The night before, I went to buy groceries, [and] I took all the groceries out [of the trunk]," he recalled. "I knew there was nothing there."
Andres was charged with drug possession with the intent to distribute. He spent six months in various U.S. jails awaiting trial.
(...)
How the scam works
Drug cartels were well aware of the SENTRI pass system and concocted a plan to take advantage of it. Jesus Chavez and Carlos Alberto Gomez, both Mexican citizens living in Texas, were recently accused in a 20-page criminal complaint of doing just that.
According to the complaint, Chavez and Gomez allegedly paid lookouts to monitor SENTRI pass drivers -- noting the time of day, as well as the make, model and color of their cars -- as they drove over the bridge.
The lookouts targeted students and professionals who typically have consistent routines.
Once they identified a possible target, they followed the car as it returned to the Mexican side of the border. Then, they approached the car at night, copied the vehicle identification number (VIN) off the dashboard and gave the number to Chavez and Gomez.
They also planted GPS tracking devices on the car so they could monitor its movements between Juarez and El Paso.
The complaint alleges that Chavez and Gomez took the VIN to a Texas-based locksmith who had access to key code sources for the vehicles. With that information, the locksmith made two keys for each vehicle -- one for Chavez and Gomez, and the other for Juarez-based accomplices.
The co-conspirators allegedly used their copy of the key to unlock the trunk of the target vehicle at night and place two duffel bags inside. The bags contained about 60 pounds of marijuana each and were both secured with zip ties.
The unsuspecting driver transported the drugs across the border unknowingly, and according to the complaint, Chavez and Gomez retrieved the drugs using their key once the driver was in the United States.
It was a simple, effective plan. But there was one problem: All the cases had striking similarities. And that caught the eye of a judge -- but not until after innocent people, like Andres, had been convicted of smuggling drugs.
cont at
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/01/23/world/americas/mexico-blind-drug-mules/index.html
