UK - Brazil ecstasy haul points to new generation of drug mules

[edgarshade]

Guardian

Tom Phillips in Belo Horizonte
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 18 December 2011 19.28 GMT

The annual incineration of police hauls of marijuana and cocaine is nothing new to South America, home to some of the biggest coca fields and marijuana plantations on Earth. But among Almeida's haul was a more unusual find: about 70,000 ecstasy pills and 16,000 tabs of LSD.

Brazil remains one of the largest cocaine consumers in the world and a major transit point for the drug. But a recent report by the UN's Office on Drugs and Crime suggested consumption of synthetic drugs, stable or falling in much of Europe, is on the rise in Brazil and other South American countries.

The demand for such drugs has spawned a new generation of drug mules. In Brazil they call them "narco-turistas".

"They are passengers who leave the country, spend 10 days sightseeing in Europe and then come back with the drugs. They fake a holiday," said Almeida in Belo Horizonte, capital of Minas Gerais. "If you look at their cameras they'll have a whole load of photographs of tourist spots, sometimes even from several different countries."

"In our investigations we have come across a lot of high-level people," said Almeida, his desk stacked with sky-blue investigation files. "We've arrested lawyers, doctors, business people, the owner of one gym. These are people who go to Europe a lot. They are students, they might have studied in Europe, or been on tourism trips there, or business trips."

More...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/dec/18/brazil-ecstasy-synthetic-drug-mules

 

[23536]

70,000 pills points to nothing

 

[peacelovedope]

Were all of those pills and tabs in a single bust or were they just doing some kind of routine evidence room cleanup?

 

[mattnotrik]

Interesting I guess, mules coming back from holland and belgium with a shit load of good pills for the brazillians, I bet theres next to none produces in the country, but there is a market for it hint hint.