Cocaine hidden in a wheelchair: the new way to smuggle drugs in by air
The National Police arrested two "mules" with reduced mobility at El Prat Airport in two days.
BarcelonaOn paper, he was in Barcelona for tourism. He had just arrived from a flight from Brazil and was traveling alone, despite having serious mobility issues: he was using an electric wheelchair. At El Prat Airport, when the National Police officers asked him why he had chosen Barcelona, he hesitated. He became nervous and doubtful, and evaded the issue by bringing up a new, even more suspicious one: his electric wheelchair wouldn't work; it had to be moved manually, because he had had problems during the flight. The wheelchair wouldn't work because it had no battery: inside the boxes that should have contained gears and cables, there was actually cocaine.
The National Police officers had arrested him because they know that this technique, that of using people with physical disabilities to move drugs, is on the rise. Criminal groups, usually originating in South America, target these calls. mules among vulnerable people in those countries. Now, they're especially targeting those with mobility issues to evade airport controls. Earlier this month, police spotted this man using an electric wheelchair and, reviewing his file, found he fit the profile of a mule. He was young and vulnerable. All of this, coupled with his doubts, resulted in a thorough search and the detection of 10 packages containing more than seven kilos of cocaine in the warehouse. The man was eventually arrested.
Second case
It only took one day to prove that this new drug-smuggling tactic is now a trend. The following day, police arrested another man using an electric wheelchair at El Prat Airport. He was also young, suffered from severe mobility problems, and was traveling alone. Once again, they found 3.8 kilograms of cocaine in the wheelchair's batteries. In this case, the flight was originating from Colombia.
Police sources recall that criminal drug groups take advantage of these people's vulnerability to exploit them. mules of drugs. In addition to their economic and social vulnerability, in these cases there are also health risks. These mules They often do not know what transporting drugs entails and what penalties they may face.
