Drug cartel uses Amazon to ship crystal meth

An international drug cartel is apparently using Amazon’s logistics to sell methamphetamine. According to reports, the smugglers disguised packages as garden decorations in order to send the drugs in them.

Amazon has contacted the US Customs Agency Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) to track down an international drug gang. That comes from a report of the business magazine forbes out.

Accordingly, smugglers would have sent the drug methamphetamine – also known as crystal meth – via the online platform. In order not to be caught, they simply declared the packages as decorative items for the garden.

Drug dealers are shipping crystal meth through Amazon

Meanwhile, according to Forbes, the investigation goes back to a suspicious package. During a search of an Amazon fulfillment center in San Diego, investigators found a package labeled “decorative stones” but suspected to contain the drug Crystal method.

Amazon and HSI officials were then able to uncover at least five seller accounts that used the mail order company’s logistics to sell the drug. In this way, the smugglers in turn sent “controlled substances by the kilo intended for international sale”.

Police seized several pounds of methamphetamine

The police have so far confiscated a total of two packages from suspicious dealer accounts. Both would have contained large amounts of drugs. Investigators intercepted one of the packages in Kentucky on October 28, 2002, preventing it from reaching its destination in Australia.

The package reportedly contained five kilograms of crystal meth. Just three days later, officials in Michigan noticed a suspicious shipment that allegedly contained slate. The actual contents: almost six kilograms of methamphetamine.

Drug hub Amazon

According to Forbes, in addition to Amazon and the HSI, the US Department of Justice office in California is also involved in the investigation. It is still unclear whether the investigators have been able to locate the people behind the crime. An official statement is not yet available.

In the past, meanwhile, Amazon customers have repeatedly received packages in which they found drugs by mistake. For example, in 2020 a customer from California received a shipment containing opioids such as morphine. Last year, police in India launched another investigation into alleged smugglers who shipped more than 1,000 kilograms of marijuana through Amazon.

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