H-E-B, based in San Antonio, is my favorite grocer in Houston. Not long ago the Texas Department of Public Safety stopped what looked like an H-E-B tractor-trailer and found the trailer contained a big load of marijuana bales.
SMUGGLERS IN TEXAS USING ‘CLONED’ VEHICLES TO MOVE DRUGS
Law Enforcement On Lookout For Imposters On Roads
By Jessie Degollado
KSAT.com
October 27, 2011
VICTORIA COUNTY, Texas -- Texas law enforcement agencies report drug smugglers have resorted to "cloning" company and government vehicles to try to avoid detection and protect their illegal cargo.
"It's making our job a lot harder," said Michael O'Connor, Victoria County sheriff. "We're up against a matrix of deceptive transportation."
O'Connor said his officers have undergone additional training on how to spot the nearly perfect look-alikes.
Photographs provided by the Texas Department of Public Safety show 18-wheelers with duplicate logos of major companies, crammed with bales of marijuana.
Others closely resemble government vehicles, even a school bus that had marijuana bales set up inside so they looked like passenger seats.
Another shows a truck with a Texas Department of Transportation logo spotted in Gonzales County, except it was stuffed with marijuana.
"At one time, you could say there was a certain type of vehicle used. Now, it's everything, everything imaginable," O'Connor said.
He said some have "window-dressing" such as oilfield equipment or soldiers in uniform and a patient in the back of an ambulance, but they were all imposters.
No comments:
Post a Comment