If I were planning on smuggling a large amount of contraband from a country known for producing this particular substance to another known for consuming it, my plans would definitely involve a yacht and countless hours on Google Earth looking for safe takeoff and landing spots that were not well patrolled by the respective countries' coast guards. After making my dropoff, I would then proceed to a proper port-of-call and enter legally through the proper channels, with a valid passport and visa and nothing illegal on me, and rendezvous at the dropoff point later.
It is absolutely foolhardy in this day and age to think that you can pass through any established international border checkpoint with contraband on you, and actually make it through. Especially if you're traveling from a country with a reputation as a source for that which you're smuggling. Yes, people do it every day and get away with it. But as imaging and chemical sniffing technologies improve and cheapen, it's really playing the odds to try. I honestly pity the hassle and invasive scrutiny any young-looking adult arriving in the US from Amsterdam must face. Lima and Phnom Penh can't be much better.
A net friend I had some years back had a relative of a friend who worked for Japanese customs and immigration, and told me they run drug-sniffing dogs through every flight that arrives from an international destination in Tokyo as soon as all passengers have disembarked. If a dog marks a seat, they radio immediately to the border guards, who will identify and single out for extra scrutiny not only the person who sat in that seat, but also the people who sat in any seat adjacent to it, and all people registered as traveling together with any of those people. Apparently, he said, people flying into Japan with drugs on them, especially marijuana and cocaine, stand an overwhelming chance of being caught. Now granted, I know the old adage that Japan does not draw analogies to other countries. But this is a good example of the lengths a country's border guards are willing and able to go to in this day and age, if they have a real vested interest in letting no drugs into or out of their country, and I'd be surprised if they're the only ones who do something similar.
I wouldn't be surprised if young women like this are approached with [raw] deals like this when they're off their chops on the substances they'll be smuggling, increasing the chances they'll find the idea halfway sensible. And if the gangsters who approach them are this brazen, a lot of them probably sleep with their potential "mules" too, sending them off to Lima on a cloud of happy memories of "my summer fling in Ibiza with this dusky guy from some far-off place", and promising them things like "we'll be together as soon as you get back". The reality that they were totally played by gangsters probably only hits most of these birds when they get caught. If this is really how it goes down a lot of the time, then damn it must feel pretty badass to be one of these gangsters!
