PBH / colombia (travelguide, pictures) / post

Colombia in the news

From an article on the front page of today's Philadelphia Inquirer

Phila. becomes a key link in heroin chain
Area police went on a DEA trip to the source: Colombia.
By Shannon McCaffrey
Inquirer Foreign Staff

BOGOTA, Colombia - The Lancaster couple seemed nervous as they waited at El Dorado Airport in Bogota to board a flight back to the United States. Colombian police soon learned why. Hidden in their backpack and videocamera case were almost 29 pounds of heroin, authorities said.

The intended destination: Philadelphia.

New York City remains the hub of heroin trafficking on the East Coast. But Philadelphia's heroin trade has skyrocketed, and police say it has spilled into the suburbs and surrounding rural areas.

The bust in June is the largest passenger drug seizure this year at the busy Colombian airport, where it is believed that about 20 drug couriers depart on any given day.

Charles Butcher and Marla David, both 24, were to be paid $10,000 each when they touched down in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. David also had breast-enhancement surgery thrown in as part of the deal while she and Butcher were in Colombia. The pair are now serving time in a Colombian prison.

Chief Inspector Keith Sadler of the Philadelphia Police Narcotics Bureau said the city's location made it ideal for heroin distribution.

"The demographics are ideal," Sadler said. "We're a stop along the way, not to mention that we are also a port city. We have one of the major airports in the country as well."

"The fact that it's so pure makes [heroin] more attractive to a wider base of drug users," Sadler added. And heroin is cheap, he said.

"While everything else in the country has gone up, heroin has stayed the same price."

The purity of Colombian heroin - which makes up 90 percent of the supply on the East Coast - allows users to snort it, avoiding the stigma and increased health risk of injecting it. That has brought in a new kind of user.

The Department of Justice reports that 0.2 percent of college students surveyed nationwide reported using heroin in 2003, the last year for which figures are available. That was double the rate reported in 2002, and the increase came after several years of steady decline.

Admissions to publicly funded drug-treatment clinics for heroin addiction have risen 142 percent since 1998, according to state Health Department figures. Deaths attributed to opiates, including heroin, increased 82 percent between 2000 and 2003.

So, when the Drug Enforcement Administration planned a trip to Colombia to give a small delegation of police a view from the other end of the drug pipeline, three Philadelphia officers and two Pennsylvania state troopers went along.

They soon learned that in Colombia, the war on drugs is not just a figure of speech. Hustling through Bogota in armored SUVs, they were surrounded by their Colombian counterparts, who cradled M-15s and dressed more like commandos than police officers.

The Colombians were eager to demonstrate how they respond to roadside bombs and ambush attacks. They practiced with live rounds, firing so many during one exercise with a Vietnam-era Huey helicopter that they ignited a small brushfire.

"Look at that," Philadelphia Police Sgt. Joseph Bologna said, admiring the Colombians' hefty automatic weapons. "We don't get that kind of firepower back home."

At a hospital in Bogota - set up by the government just for the nation's police - they met Carlos Mira. The 30-year-old suffered a shattered leg in an ambush by guerrillas with rifles and hand grenades.

His doctors say he might never walk normally again. He's the lucky one. His partner was killed.

"Tell the Americans that this is what the drugs do," he said simply, no malice in his voice.

Fifteen Colombian police officers on patrol in a remote area near the border with Venezuela were killed by a bomb just days before the U.S. police arrived, bringing the number of police homicides this year to 120. That is a vast improvement from the early 1990s, when about 600 police officers were killed each year battling the guerrilla and paramilitary groups that control Colombia's lucrative drug trade.

"I have a huge amount of respect," Philadelphia Police Sgt. Marvin Burton said. "I can't imagine being on surveillance and having a grenade roll under the car. These guys are really at war."

Burton said the trip gave him a new perspective and new answer for those who say drug use is a victimless crime. Burton said he always had pointed out the impact the drug trade had on the families and friends of those who used or dealt. Now, he says, he can also tell them about the police it kills on another continent.

By michaelz on Nov 21, 2005, 05:10 in Politics & the war.

davidcisco says on Nov 21, 2005, 06:21:

you are right If it is illegal, you have corruption.

David Cisco

0 funny, 0 helpful.

michaelz says on Nov 21, 2005, 07:25:

tinto I agree about the couple. How many years in a colombian jail would they get for attempting to smuggle 29 pounds? Would anyone recognize them when they got out?

0 funny, 0 helpful.

caslug says on Nov 21, 2005, 08:50:

the couple was stupid! On all my flight back from COL, they(COL airport people) CHECK EVERYONE's carryon and checked baggage IN COL. Unless you're willing to swallow the stuff i really don't know how you plan to smuggle it on the plane. Maybe the lady should have filled her breast implant w/ Herion instead of saline/silicon!

Then when you get to Miami, every now and then they got the dogs waiting for you as you step off the plane.

If i was going to smuggle the stuff i use boats or just pay the mexican mafia a "transit" fee to get it into the US via our vast unguarded border. But smuggling on the plane is not as efficient, but it's fast(fedex of drug smuggling). And if the drug guys are smart they paid 25% up front with 75% of the fee on delivery. Since the couple were napped, the trafficers only lost 29lb of herion(cost of manufacturing is nothing) and 7k USD while the american couple got a long prison sentences!

0 funny, 0 helpful.

Mr. Hollywood says on Nov 21, 2005, 12:24:

Maybe he had a great nose Heh. Maybe that dog had a great nose. Since drug dogs sit down and are silent when they smell something (like bomb dogs) they just wait for the barking to stop and bring him over.

I'm always amazed by the going-over the anti-narcotics cops give baggage leaving El Dorado.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

skelley says on Apr 30, 2006, 16:35:

Couple Busted I feel really bad for the couple. What would make a person do something so stupid? I went to school with both of them, I was really good friends with Marla for a long time...I never would have guessed this is what she'd be up to! As far as procreating- they do have a daughter who is now the one who is really suffering!

0 funny, 0 helpful.

Neonovo says on May 3, 2006, 08:19:

El Dorado Carabineros gave me the works... AND...had me and two others walk the x-ray plank...

We all cleared; so I can't imagine why in the world anyone would dare it.

A while back a read a book describing the Long-Island trade by Colombians and other druggies, like a gringo growing pot in Africa and Mexico. From Africa he would ship it; from Mexico he would truck it in tanker-trucks bearing "Gasoline" labels.

The cops on both sides would be busy "searching" car trunks and backpacks, while happily waving the tankers through.

Paz
Neonovo

0 funny, 0 helpful.