Last year, Texas Department of Public Safety troopers set new all-time high records for the amount of drugs seized and the number of drug traffickers busted during routine traffic stops, the agency reports. Troopers seized nearly 48 tons of pot, three tons of cocaine, and 267 pounds of methamphetamine; in all, troopers pulled in an estimated $335.9 million worth of dope and arrested 1,975 “drug smugglers.” And better yet, there’s photos!
“Our troopers are highly trained in drug interdiction,” DPS Highway Patrol Chief Randall K. Elliston said. The record-setting year is a “reflection of that training,” he said. While we don’t doubt their skill, it is worth noting that at least some of the busted traffickers appear to have made the troopers’ job embarrassingly easy – like, for example, the criminally challenged saps that packed their pot into the rear of their SUV so that it pressed into and obscured the vehicle’s rear window.
The DPS’s online photo spread of seized drugs (lots and lots of drugs, all inevitably incinerator bound) offers a glimpse into the workings of the smugglers’ mind – and clearly, some aren’t that bright. For example, hiding 2.2 pounds of crystal meth inside a Rubbermaid Flex&Seal container – not so smart. Also not so ingenious: storing 333 pounds of coke inside duffle bags stored in the rear of an SUV, again, right in front of the rear window. (Hello? Folks: It’s a window. Sheesh.) Far more ingenious: converting an icky “tar machine” trailer to conceal 52 pounds of marijuana; converting the standard flatbed trailer – used by so many home-improvers and landscapers – into flat storage for pot.
This article appears in May 25 • 2007.