GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Drug cartels are increasingly using the mail system to ship drugs throughout Michigan, breaking up shipments into smaller packages to avoid detection.
Authorities claim cartels are using tactics like dryer sheets to mask the smell of drugs inside packages.
Cordairo Lambert, 38, was arrested in July after picking up one of two packages sent from Arizona to two addresses about seven blocks apart in Grand Rapids.
What Lambert didn’t know was that Grand Rapids police and postal inspectors had him under surveillance.
When arrested, police said they seized the two packages containing dryer sheets, school supplies, candies and nearly three pounds of cocaine.
Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker said his office has tracked six drug deliveries exceeding a kilogram each since last year.
United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent Derek Ress said that tighter security is making it harder for cartels to smuggle large amounts of drugs at once.
“Instead, ‘OK, let’s break it up into a hundred different shipments,’ going maybe all over the region,” Ress said.
Cartels are increasingly using mail delivery services to move drugs.
“The packaging through the postal services seems to be the big one at the moment,” Ress said. “These guys excel at subterfuge. So, they’re really good at blending in. Could be your next-door neighbor, you’ll never know.”
With the crackdown on opioids, demand for cocaine is growing, as is its price. A kilogram of cocaine that was worth $15,000 to $16,000 last year is now going for $20,000 to $30,000. This price increase is driving cartels to work harder to smuggle cocaine into the region.