Featured Image Credit: Vice/Shutterstock
Topics: Drugs, World News, Cars
Jess Hardiman
A European drug smuggler has opened up about why the Mercedes S-Class tends to be the preferred mode of transport for illegal activities.
The unnamed European drug mule spoke to Vice to offer a glimpse inside his world of ‘unlimited cash flow, hotels and hookers’, revealing how corrupt garages would build stashes into fast cars that he could stuff with packages of cocaine to drop off across Europe. In return, he would receive €20,000 in cash for each delivery.
He told the outlet: “I was making seven trips in one year. The car with the drug inside is minimum €1 million. Usually the garages, they know which car is the best.
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"If you’re going to drive 200 kilos, they will say, ‘Yeah, buy Mercedes S-Class because there we know where to make a bigger stash. The stash is made underneath the back seat or underneath the trunk.
“So my dog was also playing a role, because when you open the trunk, there is a dog with his belongings. The dog will hide all the smell from the drugs.
“Underneath the spare tyre, there is a stash, and even to get closer into that, it’s not so easy. It was made with locks, and to activate the locks, you have to turn the fog light, radio. And then you take a magnet, and you have to put it in the special location to activate and open the stash.”
The anonymous smuggler added: “Nobody knew from my family, from my friends – nobody knew what I was doing. Even if they have some questions, you just deny it. You’re not letting them even start the conversation about that.”
He said he would make tens of thousands for each delivery, and would spend his earnings partying.
"From every delivery, I was making €20,000 – in cash," he recalled. "Only cash. When you get the money, I’m stil young... so what I need is a party, a nice hotel, a lot of hookers and drugs, and just party ‘til you’re going to crash."
But with such high-stakes jobs, there was inevitably a huge element of danger, making him 'paranoid' and constantly afraid that border patrol was watching him.
“Before the first delivery, when you already have the keys, and you have your car, you think already you’re going to just drive," he said.
"But then the guy asks you where your family lives. There was a story that a guy wasn’t careful enough, and he was saying to other people what he’s doing, and he just disappeared. ‘Til this day, nobody knows where he is.
“If more bricks are missing, they’re just doing to dig the hole and bury you. Nobody [is] gonna find you.”
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