The Mexican Cartel's Hi-Tech Drug Tunnels 448
In the past five years, more than 100 drug tunnels between Mexico and the U.S. have been discovered. This is double the number found over the previous 15 years. Not only are they growing in number, but the tunnels are becoming much more sophisticated, including electric rail systems, hydraulic elevators, and secret entrances (one opened via a fake water tap). From the article: "When architect Felipe de Jesus Corona built Mexico's most powerful drug lord a 200-foot-long tunnel under the U.S.-Mexican border with a hydraulic lift entrance opened by a fake water tap, the kingpin was impressed. The architect 'made me one f---ing cool tunnel' Joaquin 'Shorty' Guzman said, according to court testimony that helped sentence Corona to 18 years in prison in 2006. Built below a pool table in his lawyer's home, the tunnel was among the first of an increasingly sophisticated drug transport system used by Guzman's Sinaloa cartel. U.S. customs agents seized more than 2,000 pounds of cocaine which had allegedly been smuggled along the underground route."
Concealed (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Perfect spot for underground explosives tests.. (Score:2, Informative)
Your plan sounds flawless, except for two minor quibbles, so minor that I feel almost bad for bringing them up...
Quibble one: a smidgeon under 2000 miles of border takes a lot of dynamite to turn to sand (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexico%E2%80%93United_States_border).
Quibble two: the evil Mexican drug runners might have access to Wikipedia too, and might find out that it is, in fact, entirely possible to tunnel through sand. The tunnel shield method was even patented in 1818 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunnelling_shield).
Like I said, just minor quibbles really.
Re:Why do they need tunnels? (Score:5, Informative)
Someone (or many someones) probably are.
That's the interesting thing with this stuff. We only hear about the guys who get caught. We don't get to hear about the guys who run their operations successfully because success is pretty much defined by not getting caught.
Re:It's working (Score:5, Informative)
The same was said about alcohol in the 1920s, but guess what? Alcohol consumption doubled during prohibition.
I'd like to see your source for that. Most studies [wikipedia.org] say that consumption went down 20%-30%, but people drank more during each drinking session.
Submarines too! (Score:4, Informative)
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/06/pictures/110624-cocaine-subs-submarines-first-submersible-science-colombia-drug-smuggling/ [nationalgeographic.com]
Re:Ah, the war on drugs... (Score:5, Informative)
Let's see... drug testing as a requirement of employment, jack booted thugs throwing flash bang grenades terrorizing your family and killing your pets in the night from bad intel, drug interdiction techniques by the police that profile citizens and justify searches (and if you exercise your right to refuse, they will go over the situation with a fine tooth comb and find a reason). They make no apologies for these acts, in the name of the War on Drugs.
It may not have happened to you personally, but you should not accept that behaviour because it just as easily could.
Portugal (Score:4, Informative)
Re:It's working (Score:5, Informative)
Most of your points are refuted by the result of the 18th amendment, and it's ultimate repeal via the 21st, in the US. The mob flourished after prohibition was repealed because we gave them the opportunity to make huge margins and create vast networks for their business, and once alcohol was removed they just moved to other things, fully funded. It's taken decades to reduce the grip of national organized crime.
Although there is a black market for tobacco and alcohol in the US, it is relatively small. The goal of any regulation and tax scheme is to make it difficult and expensive to obtain the "sin" items, without making it so difficult or expensive that the black market can make a profit off of it.
People in the trade will not magically become good, but it would be nice to start reducing the participation of new drug runners in their illicit endeavors rather than encouraging it through the promise of easy wealth.
As for health care, stop covering those diseases, and make it public that smoking, alcohol, an drug related ailments will not be reimbursed by taxpayer funded health care.
try walking around with $10,000 in cash (Score:5, Informative)
Since most people on Craigslist require cash transactions, that jeopardizes a great many peoples' right to presumption of innocence. After the money is confiscated, they are put into the position of proving they are innocent.
Seth
Re:Ah, the war on drugs... (Score:5, Informative)
The right to keep your property unless there's due process: under "civill forfeiture" laws, police can and do seize cash from people without even filing charges and keep it for themselves.
In one notorious case, the first item in the "investigation" folder for a "drug" case was an appraisal of the person's house.
Yes, you can theoretically sue to get your property back. But there are also cases where the government has seized lawyer's fees after they've been paid, alleging that they were proceeds of criminal activity.