2 British girls arrested for drug smuggling in Peru

**Scarlett O'Hara** · 08-25-2013, 06:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tore

The policy in regards to punishment down there is so that punishment should be so tough that it discourages people from being drug mules. If a case gets international attention, I would think that Peruvian authorities would generally think of it as a good thing and a chance to make an example. I personally think lighter punishment like Unknown Soldier mentions, or them serving some sentence in the UK instead, makes more sense, morally speaking, but I doubt that will happen.

I think dying is a good reason not to be a drug mule. It's common for the bags to open and poison the mule.

I recommend that everyone see this movie:

Unknown Soldier · 08-26-2013, 02:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by John Wilkes Booth

You think bribes would absorb any possible increase in their profit margin?

I guess from a business point of view the drug baron would make more of a profit, but then I'm hesitant to suggest that as I don't believe lighter sentences on mules would actually increase the amount of traffickers. If the existing penalty of 25 years is not deterring them, it means that hefty prison sentences are not the solution here and the tinkering with jail time a waste of time. What would make a huge difference though, are the chances of knowing that you'll most likely be caught.

At the end of the day, if they really wanted to (the local authorities) they could actually get most of the cocaine that leaves the continent. Non-corrupt airport officials would snag most of it, leaving only ships to really try and smuggle it. Smuggling controls are actually very effective, when the officials are capable of doing the job properly.

There's no real point in inflicting punitive punishments on mules, when the root cause the barons and production facilities for the drug are right there in the country. Their production is illegal and I can't believe with modern technology that they can't be brought to justice, but we know why they're not brought to justice.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vanilla

I think dying is a good reason not to be a drug mule. It's common for the bags to open and poison the mule.

I recommend that everyone see this movie:

I once knew of a guy in Spain who was a drug user, his girlfriend was Colombian who was aged around 23-25 and from the looks of her she had been extremely pretty. When I saw here she looked pale, drawn and ghastly thin like she was seriously ill. Much later somebody else that knew of them had said that she had been smuggling drugs for a number of years and she was now suffering from stomach cancer. I then thought how unlucky she'd been to get such a serious illness despite the smuggling, until somebody explained to me what body packing was and its risks to the body.

~~John Wilkes Booth~~ · 08-26-2013, 07:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Unknown Soldier

I guess from a business point of view the drug baron would make more of a profit, but then I'm hesitant to suggest that as I don't believe lighter sentences on mules would actually increase the amount of traffickers. If the existing penalty of 25 years is not deterring them, it means that hefty prison sentences are not the solution here and the tinkering with jail time a waste of time. What would make a huge difference though, are the chances of knowing that you'll most likely be caught.

I disagree. The fact that the existing penalty doesn't eliminate smuggling simply means there is some subset of the population that is willing to take on the risk for the money involved. If that risk were reduced, not only would more people be willing to take it on, but the cartels could pay them less to do so, thus smuggling more contraband for the same amount of money.

Quote:

At the end of the day, if they really wanted to (the local authorities) they could actually get most of the cocaine that leaves the continent. Non-corrupt airport officials would snag most of it, leaving only ships to really try and smuggle it. Smuggling controls are actually very effective, when the officials are capable of doing the job properly.

I don't know the situation that well, but wouldn't the airport officials on both sides (source country and destination country) need to be corrupt for that idea to be true? How would corrupt Peruvian officials help get smugglers through US customs, for example?

Quote:

There's no real point in inflicting punitive punishments on mules, when the root cause the barons and production facilities for the drug are right there in the country. Their production is illegal and I can't believe with modern technology that they can't be brought to justice, but we know why they're not brought to justice.

You might be right. I was just doubting the idea that lightening their sentences wouldn't be good for business from the cartel's POV.

hip hop bunny hop · 08-27-2013, 10:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by John Wilkes Booth

I don't know the situation that well, but wouldn't the airport officials on both sides (source country and destination country) need to be corrupt for that idea to be true? How would corrupt Peruvian officials help get smugglers through US customs, for example?

You don't have to go through U.S. Customs. If we're using the example of planes, if you own or are renting one, you can simply land at any one of the bazillion private strips in this country. Yeah, there's a chance they could _make_ you land to check your cargo.... but it's about as remote as you can get.