From Animals Magazine, Nov/Dec 1994

Deadly Cargo
The war on drugs claims another victim: wildlife used for smuggling

By Jessica Speart

Miami International Airport takes on a surreal quality after midnight. Like a seaport, it hums with a life all its own. Fresh from tropical lands, containers of reptiles and fish often pour in during these hours. And it was on just such a night in June 1993 that 41 boxes of live boa constrictors came in from Bogota, Colombia.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) inspector suspected nothing unusual as he opened the shipment. But the first snake to be examined contained a rock-hard bulge near the anal region, which an X ray revealed was a foreign object. USFWS agents were quickly called in to remove two condoms filled with cocaine weighing a total of eight ounces.

Conferring with Drug Enforcement (DEA) and Customs agents, officers from the three agencies decided to reseal the shipment and allow the delivery to be made. At 1 PM that day, agents furtively watched as a man loaded the snakes onto a van and drove to a North Dade apartment complex, where he disappeared inside. The agents continued their surveillance for the rest of the day and night, but no one came near the van. It wasn't until the next afternoon, as temperatures soared to 95 degrees, that agents feared for the snakes baking inside. Obtaining a search warrant, they opened the van to find 312 boas, 202 of which were already dead. The remaining 110 snakes were rushed to Metrozoo.

Four to six condoms had been forced up inside each of 223 snakes, whose cloaca (the reptile's equivalent to a rectum) was then sewn shut to prevent the contents from being ejected. Of the survivors, those stuffed with cocaine were bleeding from both ends, the narcotic having destroyed their intestinal tracts as it hardened. Only 63 of the snakes left the zoo alive, most facing a very grim prognosis. Eighty pounds of cocaine were seized, but no suspect was ever arrested.

Drug smuggling in conjunction with the wildlife trade -- it's a dirty little secret that no one wants to talk about. Yet according to a USFWS annual report, of 653.95 pounds of cocaine seized in 1993, more than one-third involved wildlife importation. The report also noted that such shipments appear to have significantly increased. "One of two things is happening," confirms USFWS agent Adam O'Hara. "Either we're just starting to see how it works or smugglers are finding more innovative ways of bringing this stuff in."

But drug running by concealing the contraband in wildlife shipments has been rumored for years. "We always heard of it, but we never really made any cases," reveals USFWS agent Terry English. Part of the problem has been that many consider the idea too farfetched. "Think about what would be the most bizarre way to bring drugs into the United States, and certainly you'd have to rate wildlife right there at the top," concedes DEA agent Tom Cash. Another contributing factor is the unresolved question of just whose job is it to enforce the law in these cases. "We don't inspect wildlife shipments looking for drugs. It's just not what we do," states USFWS agent Larry Farrington. Others downplay its existence. "This is not something I'm dedicating any personnel to, because the amount we'd be talking about is something you could buy off any street vendor in New York," declares an inspector with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. But the tales that begin to unfold tell a far different story.

In what is known as the China White Case, a smuggling ring operating between Shanghai and San Francisco was implanting heroin-filled condoms into the stomachs of large goldfish. Mortality in a certain percentage of the fish regularly shipped in for the pet trade is expected. It was only when Chinese officials noticed stitching on the fishes' bellies that they began to smell a scam. The Chinese worked in cooperation with U.S. agents, which eventually led to the arrest of three men. The case is now being appealed.

A large quantity of methamphetamine was seized in Los Angeles a few years ago when a wildlife inspector found the stimulant buried inside plastic-wrapped baskets filled with ornamental clam shells imported from the Philippines. Customs was brought in, and the delivery was allowed to be made. Once again, a snafu caused the guilty parties to escape, although close to a million dollars of the drug was recovered.

A ruse going on for years has involved racehorses that are regularly brought back and forth across the Mexican-U.S. border with cocaine and heroin hidden inside body cavities. Customs officials concede this could still be taking place.

Methods vary. In the past, there have been rumors of drugs slipping into the United States inside hunters' trophy heads, and hashish was found concealed in containers of water buffalo hides, their centers cut out to hold up to 300 pounds of the drug. On the Mexican border, couriers, or "mules," wade across the river carrying both cocaine and birds, which are offered together for sale. Leopard skins coated with heroin are flown in from Nigeria via Madrid to Texas. South American caiman skins are cured in pure cocaine, which is disguised as a preservative and later vacuumed off.

In Miami, an inspector, suspicious of an importer with a consistently large number of dead birds in each shipment, spies plastic bags being removed from inside the carcasses before the birds are tossed into an incinerator. The Environmental Investigation Agency reveals that pilots working with a small airline fly out of Guyana into Miami each week ferrying a cargoload of illegal birds and cocaine. Landing the aircraft, the pilots quickly drive their vehicles out onto the tarmac, load their booty, and leave before any inspection can take place.

"If you take the profile of a large drug organization and compare it to the wildlife trade, it's identical," states USFWS agent Jorge Picon. The parallel exists in other ways as well, as the source countries for drugs are also rich in wildlife. Birds and reptiles flow into Miami from South America, as does cocaine. One wildlife inspector contends that many drug kingpins and their lower echelons get involved in the importing and exporting of wildlife not only as a cover but also because it provides a nice secondary income. Such was the case with the late international drug dealer Pablo Escobar, who kept a large collection of endangered species on his ranch in Colombia. Since Escobar had long trafficked in animals, his move into using wildlife for drug smuggling seems a natural progression.

Smugglers engaged in both the wildlife and drug trades have learned to be practical. "Obviously, if you're smuggling drugs, it's not a good idea to put it in illegal wildlife. You always want to make god-dang sure you put it in legal wildlife," declares a USFWS agent. This has been done for years with venomous snakes. "I don't like snakes, and if they're poisonous, I like them even less. Smugglers know people feel this way and use them as an inspectional deterrent," asserts Customs agent Bill Rosenblatt. Smugglers routinely hide kilo bricks of cocaine beneath the false bottoms of containers housing snakes, while others choose to place narcotics inside the reptiles themselves. "You've got cobras that are 12 feet long. Who's going to pull it out and feel it? All someone needs to do is put a couple of pellets in there, and you'd never know," admits a USFWS agent.

In perhaps the most creative ploy to date, shipments of tropical fish were double-wrapped, with the outer bag holding liquid cocaine. Though USFWS has been aware of this ruse since 1985, no case was ever cracked until May 6, 1993. Tipped off by a DEA informant, agents discovered 12 out of 60 boxes of tropical fish contained liquid cocaine, which appeared as an oily thickness at the bottom of the bags. A second case, in October 1993, involved 100 boxes. This time the fish swam in dark-blue, medicated water with the liquid cocaine dyed to match. A third shipment was discovered when some bags sprang a leak, emitting a strange odor.

Why did it take so long to crack the first case? "Here in Miami, there's a minimum of 300 shipments of tropical fish each week. Each of those contain anywhere from 100 to 200 boxes. You could have four inspectors opening up boxes 24 hours a day, and you still wouldn't find all the liquid cocaine coming in," contends agent Picon. In addition, tropical fish have always been, and continue to be, considered a low priority. The cases remain open with no arrests. "There's no way in hell you're going to be able to run those folks down at this end," confides an USFWS agent. "They use false names. They're home free."

Miami has the highest incidence of both drug and wildlife smuggling. "This is the northernmost city of South America. What do you expect?" replies Customs' Rosenblatt. "Law enforcement is maxed to the hilt, and we keep losing resources. Meanwhile, the bad guys don't have to do accounting ledgers and five-year plans, like we do, to justify their existence. They have the time to be creative." Miami is also notorious for having the lowest inspection rate of wildlife shipments in the country. With only five inspectors now working full-time, it's an impossible job and a prospect that smugglers relish.

One of the biggest busts involving wildlife and drugs in Miami came not from liquid but from powdered cocaine. Packed in tubes, the cocaine became part of hundreds of styrofoam boxes containing tropical fish. Seventy-five kilos of the narcotic were discovered. Yet even when drugs are found in wildlife, a certain minimum must be met for DEA to take on a case. "It's got to be more than a kilo of heroin, more than 5,000 pounds of marijuana, and more than five kilos of cocaine, or we don't even look at it," confirms DEA agent Tom Cash.

It is rumored that when large amounts of drugs accompany wildlife violations, USFWS is ordered to look the other way, giving DEA leeway to pursue the case. Such an example is that of Mario Tabraue. Known as an exotic animal dealer owning several pet stores, Tabraue was suspected of running a drug racketeering ring. The case was dubbed Operation Cobra by the government after his importing business. Though no wildlife charges were ever brought, former government attorney Steve Chaykin confirms that Tabraue received shipments of birds from South America in which the containers, as well as the birds themselves, housed cocaine. The same held true of snakes and reptiles. Likewise, Tabraue used different breeds of birds, such as cockatoos and parrots, as code when negotiating drug deals, making it difficult for government wiretappers to figure out when he was speaking in code and when he was conducting his wildlife business. Charged with homicide along with bringing in 500,000 pounds of marijuana and several hundred kilos of cocaine worth $75 million, Tabraue was eventually sentenced to 100 years in prison. But few cases are ever brought to a close.

Indeed, some cases drag on forever. One instance involves an infamous bird trafficker who, after numerous run-ins with USFWS, left the United States to set up shop in Grenada. Obtaining parrots from Guyana, he began sending out a steady flow of the birds in shipments that traveled from Grenada to London to Frankfurt and on to Beijing. While half of the parrots arrived at their destination alive, the other half consistently turned up dead, having been previously killed and filled with cocaine. A tip alerted USFWS agents, who also notified DEA. "As usual, USFWS was pushed aside," explains a source. Though the government of Grenada eventually closed his business, the trafficker was never arrested.

Another trafficker immersed in drugs and wildlife works out of Belize. I'll call him José. Originally hired by an American researcher to help track and radio-collar jaguars, José remained aware of the radio frequencies after the study concluded, parlaying his knowledge into money. Luring big-game hunters from the States with the promise of guaranteed, or "canned," hunts, the jaguars were retrapped, drugged and released at a moment that would ensure a kill. Jaguars, however, are an endangered species, making it illegal for a trophy or skin to be brought into the States. José overcame that problem by delivering the skins via cigar boat along the southern coast of Florida. He also expanded his business by dropping off bricks of cocaine and pre-Colombian artifacts. Though both USFWS and DEA have had the case for years and there is an outstanding warrant for José's arrest, he continues to elude authorities.

"There's a lot more going on than we realized," concedes one official. The question arises whether organized crime is moving into the trade. "I think the folks in the wildlife business are being infiltrated by the cartels. The big boys will buy everything wildlife dealers have and pay the dealers 1O times over just so they will work for them," theorizes a USFWS agent.

According to the USFWS annual report, "smugglers frequently trade illegal drugs for endangered species, resulting in cashless transfers." In what is referred to as back-loading, planeloads of smuggled Australian birds have been exchanged in Bangkok for heroin. The narcotic is then taken and sold on the streets of Australia. This same type of trafficking reportedly takes place between the United States and Australia not only with birds but with reptiles, too. "There are small pythons in Australia that are worth as much as $8,000 here. Rather than go over empty-handed, smugglers will take drugs with them and return home with illegal snakes," reveals an agent. Such backloading of Australian wildlife is estimated to be worth $80 million a year, according to a bulletin published by the Chicago Herpetological Society.

All in all, the wildlife trade grosses approximately $5 billion a year, running second only to the drug trade in profits. Part of the problem lies firmly entrenched in a tangle of bureaucratic red tape, which forces wildlife inspectors to favor paperwork over hands-on inspection. The result is an average inspection rate of only 16 percent of wildlife shipments arriving at U.S. designated ports of entry. "Keep in mind that we catch only 0.1 percent of the violations that come in, with what little we do inspect," confides one USFWS agent. Still, in 1993 USFWS managed to seize a total of $26,292,717 in drugs. With such numbers to contend with, we're left to wonder if there is any hope that the smuggling of drugs with wildlife will ever be brought to a halt. I put the question to Tom Cash of DEA. "I'm sorry to say that when it comes to wildlife, not a hell of a lot of people care. That's the tragedy."

Copyright © 1994 by Animals Magazine. Used with permission.