Known as mules, they transport narcotics from one country to another with increasingly ingenious and varied methods: in hidden compartments in suitcases, in footwear or clothing, and even inside the body itself.
These are people who ingest capsules with drugs, usually cocaine or heroin, inside latex gloves, condoms, to prevent normal digestive processes from ruining the merchandise. The mission consists of ingesting the capsules, transporting them from one country to another, expelling them, cleaning them and delivering them to another member of the drug organization who is in charge of receiving them.
We will dwell on this traffic mode in this article.
Generally, when recruiting mules, from drug trafficking looking for people with very low resources and poverty in situations of great vulnerability, marginality, desperation and lack of perception of opportunities to get ahead, among other factors.
By agreeing to transport drugs They become criminals while being victims of criminal organizations that the conditions in which people who engage in this type of activity live are abused. They give them the assurance that it is not a dangerous activity and that everything is taken care of. They deceive them and promise security conditions that are not met.
And they don’t always agree voluntarily. Many times they are deceived, extorted to carry out the task, forcing them to carry the drugs by force and under threat to themselves or their family. In other cases they are victims of human trafficking networks.
A no less important fact is that airport security has a body scanner, which detects the capsules inside the body, which is why It is no coincidence that many of the mules are pregnant women, who cannot be subjected to X-rays, making it more difficult for them to be arrested. They are like a perfect “package”, although the weakest and most physically compromised.
Lack of awareness of risks
The decision to be a mule usually arises from a combination of a vulnerable situation of desperation and hopelessness and a false conception that this is an activity that will easily generate money. It is perceived as a possible opportunity and way of subsistence.
But this “job” is really not easy at all: First of all, it involves risks to the person’s health (intoxication, intestinal obstruction, peritonitis and if a capsule breaks, it is very likely that its carrier will die) and exposes it to committing a crime punishable by prison for possession and trafficking of narcotics. This will depend on the country where the mules are discovered.
There are countries in which Penalties range up to 12 years in prison, according to quantities trafficked and whether or not there is collaboration in the arrest and subsequent investigation. In other countries, such as China and Indonesia, the penalties faced by drug trafficking mules can reach life imprisonment and even the death penalty.
In the case of Argentina, and according to the report “Incarcerations for crimes related to narcotics in Argentina”, 7 out of 10 imprisoned foreign women are detained for having acted as mules. The vast majority of imprisoned women are mothers and have small children, in situations of vulnerability, helplessness and both emotional and economic deprivation.
Two months ago, a 19-year-old girl was found dead on a central street in the city of Buenos Aires after two cocaine capsules (out of a total of 80) exploded inside her stomach.
According to witnesses in the case, the young woman was thrown from a vehicle, so it is believed that other people involved in that network, faced with her death, simply discarded her. A container that is no longer useful must be thrown away. Mules stop being human beings for drug traffickers are a necessary object in the chain of operations but replaceable.
Many links in the drug chain
When this works and the drug is brought to the desired point, it is thanks to a large network of accomplices, ranging from whoever obtains and stores the product, who recruits, who transports, who delivers the substance, who facilitates the procedures for make the trip, who receives the merchandise, and any corrupt and necessary arrangement with airport or border security personnel.
Both mules and vendors commit crimes for which they are tried and imprisoned, however They are means replaceable by other pairs Therefore, his arrest barely touches the powerful drug traffickers who, free and preserved, will continue to negotiate with the health and lives of people.
For the drug trafficker, each mule is an object that stores his valuable merchandise, his life matters nothing, It is only relevant that the capsules arrive at their destination and without the slightest economic loss. It is a multi-million dollar business that plays with life and death.
