Foreign Mail: New Facts For Smooth Drug Trafficking

Explore the hidden truths behind using foreign mail for drug trafficking. Uncover the facts, risks, and strategies for a gripping insight into this underworld phenomenon.

Delve into the intriguing world of drug trafficking through foreign mail. This article unveils new facts about the tactics employed, shedding light on the complex web of international drug smuggling. Discover how this method has evolved, the risks it poses, and the innovative measures authorities are taking to counteract it. Join us on a journey to uncover the hidden realities of foreign mail's role in drug distribution.

Mail entering the U.S. from a foreign country does not qualify as first class mail (which is why it was not included in the posting). There is no first class foreign mail. Foreign mail is either air mail (up to 4 imperial pounds in weight), air parcel post, or surface parcel post. M-bags and other strange foreign mailings are excluded because no one here will use them.

I did say that mail going to other countries leaving our shores is not “first-class” mail. I should have said no foreign mail at all is first-class.

Everyone here should know that customs can open anything they want.

As for receiving mail from abroad, first of all, do not have a pot mailed to you from abroad unless you absolutely must.

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) brings approximately 1000-1500 drug cases to trial each year and has the highest rate of successful prosecution of all law enforcement agencies in the industrialized world. While most drug charges are brought as a result of domestic mailings, the vast majority of powdered drugs enter the states through the post office.

If you do need to have your contraband shipped to you, be sure you have a clear understanding of what you and your supplier are doing.

New Facts On Foreign Mail You Must Be Aware Of

Here are some facts that you must be well aware of about foreign mail.

1. Customs typically handles less than 20% of all packages entering the U.S. on average.
2. They do not respond to letter mail and do not usually respond to international express mail.
3. What they do accept are consignments from suspect countries such as Colombia, Costa Rica (because of the large US population there), the Netherlands, Spain, Mexico and a few other countries known for drug trafficking.
4. If you have to pick a certain time of year to have stuff sent to you, try having it sent to you in December. Customs will usually put green-tape or orange-tape over any parcels they've opened, and they'll put a triangle symbol on it to show that it's been checked by customs. I don't see a lot of small parcels with either of these in December.
5. Ensure that the sender of the shipment complies with a complete customs declaration.
6. Check that the customs declaration does not include any items valued at $50 or more, or else the inspection is likely to result in a customs fee.
7. If the product is readily available on the domestic market, a duty is usually imposed on it. Of course, good concealment is recommended.
8. Don’t buy a Glade can with a secret bottom. Nobody ships Glade to the U.S. from Europe.
9. I have received hashish from Holland wrapped in cling film, wrapped in chocolate, wrapped in a Dutch or Belgian chocolate wrapping, and mailed that way. Even when it is open, it clearly looks like chocolate which is something that is often sent from Europe.
10. You should also use professional looking mailers with address labels, or better printed envelopes. American cigarettes are sold in Sweden for about 1/3 of the price of what they cost in the US. A large number of mailers are shipped from Sweden, so there is no need for customs officials to open a single mailer because they are so easy to identify. If you buy cigarettes from Sweden, you know what padded envelope I’m talking about. If you’re in Europe and you want to ship contraband back, you can reuse one of these mailers that you have opened, without it looking like it’s been opened. Just bring one with you in your luggage.
11. Anytime you receive any kind of contraband, I recommend enclosing it with a note like, “Sorry I’m Late for your Birthday, Here’s A Gift I Remember You Used To Love That I Came Across And Wanted To Send You.” This way, the contraband gets to you without you knowing, and even though you’ll get caught leaving your package at the post office, you’ll have a pretty good defense.
12. One of the mushroom spore suppliers, The Hawk’s Eye, was arrested a few years ago for regularly sending hashish through his PO Box. If you’re going to do things like this, make sure you don’t send things through the same method.
13. Also, do not send items via registered mail unless they will not be removed from the country unless they are registered (in most poor countries, where postal employees often steal mail because there is no paper trail).
14.  Registered mail requires you to sign for it, but you don’t have to sign for anything unless you have to. Express mail has the same requirements as registered mail, but you have the option to specify “Carrier signature release”, meaning the letter carrier will be your approved agent for the package.
15.  As far as shipping goes, I have a lot of experience with this. Canada routinely opens heavy and/or expensive items on the customs declaration. They charge a customs duty on these items on a regular basis. Most people don’t send cannabis from the states to Canada, so this probably won’t be a problem. The same advice about the “birthday” note applies here. Complete the customs declaration completely, and make it look professional.
16.  When you go to the post office to deliver the item (all foreign mail needs to have a "round-date" to show that it was delivered to a real person, according to FAA rules), ask the postmaster if there's anything that's not allowed in that country.
17. Italy is known for its stringent import rules. No toys unless 100% wood. No haberdasheries. No Italian leather (what?) No this, no that.
18. I would advise you not to send packages or letters to people you don’t know. Here’s why: If the letter carrier doesn’t know the name on the package or letter, they’ll often hand it over to you and send it back to where it came from.
19. If there's no real return address on the mail, it goes to a "Dead Letter Office," where they'll open it up to see who it's meant for. Of course, if there's any contraband inside, they'll call the Postal Inspectors, who have the best success rate at prosecuting mail fraud cases in the world.
20. If it goes back to Thailand, if it doesn't get received, you might be safe because I believe that if it goes unclaimed there, it becomes lost. But in other cases, you can understand where this practice comes from. It's like snoozing in a lion’s den. It’s silly to send anything from Thailand. You’ll never find good weed there. The islands in the south always have Nepali hash.
21. As foreign mail does not qualify as U.S. First-Class mail, it must be opened.
22. I think the best thing for a foreign marijuana seed company to do is find a reliable US postal insider who can drop off the seeds right away when you pay an overseas liaison. That way, there won't be any way to legally open the package. As a postman, you get to know your postie pretty well. They know a lot about the neighborhood, and they're the only one who has up-to-date info on where people live. They might be able to deliver a package to a house that's been empty for a while, but not usually.

What Is With The Internal Canadian Mail?

The postal systems in Canada are very similar. A lot of drugs are sent through the mail and you rarely hear about it unless it comes to your attention. The purpose of a search is to assess whether there is a sufficient expectation of privacy in relation to either the national interest or the security of the carrier.

Another thing that comes up is the idea that the Postal Service is acting at the state's request. If the police or any other state agency wanted to search your mail, could it be considered a violation of your rights because the Postal Service was acting on the state's request? Of course, you have a right to expect that your letters and gifts won't be opened. But in any case, the police had to be there with a warrant to search the mail. I think no postal worker has the right to search your regular mail. Canada Post is pretty much completely private, but they have pretty much the same rules as the USPS.

No postal employee in Canada is allowed to look through regular mail for any purpose.

It's a crime for anyone (including postal workers) to hold up, open, or move any mail or package. It's punishable by up to 5 years in jail. (Article 48, CPIA)

Canada Post remains a Crown Corporation governed by the Canada Post Privacy Act. The exception is for the transport of dangerous goods such as:

• Corrosives
• Explosives
• Poisons, etc.

Incoming and outgoing international mail can be searched by customs employees, but only under certain conditions. Under the various Acts, they can’t be searched at random, but they can be opened if there’s a good reason to believe there’s contraband in the mail. I assume Customs employees don’t care about what’s reasonable, so you can expect everything to be searched.

Customs officers don’t have jurisdiction over your internal mail. The only real difference between our mail systems is that if a postal employee in Canada opens your mail for reasons other than legitimate security concerns, they’ll be fired and charged with a crime.

Comparison Between US and Canadian (UK) Laws

There are some differences between US and Canadian law when it comes to searches. U.S law only looks at the "reasonableness of the expectation" as the basis for whether or not there's a search. There's a bit of a "social balance" built into it, since U.S law says that certain expectations aren't "unreasonable," like not being recognized by society. But the real test is just the "objective reasonable subjective expectation." 

There are also things called "exigencies": this is what gives rise to things like the "territorial stop" and roadblocks for DUI's and escape-convicts. Basically, it's saying that certain social needs justify some kind of intrusion, so long as it's not aimed at anyone specifically. From what I've read in your post and other places, it looks like US and Canadian laws are pretty much the same when it comes to this.

A non-citizen acting on behalf of the government gives rise to all the constitutional presumptions of search and seizure. In fact, there is no distinction between “official” and “unofficial” government agents.

The post office is not an “unofficial government agent” that can be asked to assist the police. The Post Office is a government department. All the constitutional presumptions apply to the Post Office.

In Canada, the defense bar was up in arms arguing about the issue of arbitrary detentions and searches at the start of impaired driving programs. The Supreme Court finally settled the issue in R v. Laguouceur. Since we don’t have an automatic “exclusion of evidence” rule, there’s always a test for whether to exclude or admit evidence obtained in the context of a violation of rights under Section 24(2).

Intrusive evidence, like a guilty conscience, is nearly always excluded. But “real” evidence (a knife, a bag of cocaine) can be admitted regardless of whether there’s a breach or not, depending on how serious the situation is.

In a recent case, the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled that because marijuana is no longer considered a “serious drug” by Canadians, it should nearly always be excluded, even if it’s “real.”

This is an important ruling that almost nobody seems to know about.

Even though we have strict rules about not taking evidence that's been illegally taken, in practice, our worlds can still be a bit of a blur.

On the other hand, the US Supreme Court in recent years has been more conservative and has carved out a number of “exceptions” to exclusions. For example, an exception is made for unlawful seizure made on the basis of a defective warrant obtained “in good faith.” An exception is made for evidence that was discovered in the course of discovery. An exception is made if the police can reasonably be said to have cleaned up the violation. So, even though exclusion is theoretically automatic, in reality, there are many exceptions that say “this wasn’t such a bad violation” and allow evidence in.

I don’t know of any federal constitutional law that makes a distinction between real evidence vs. inculpatory evidence. There are, of course, Miranda warnings that only apply to interviews.

I find it interesting that, in their actual function, these two systems are pretty much the same.

Final Words

In this exploration of the role of foreign mail service in drug trafficking, we've unveiled the intricate web of challenges and strategies. While the allure of secrecy tempts, the risks loom large. Remember, the law's long reach can shatter even the most carefully laid plans. As we conclude, let's reflect on the choices we make, weighing the consequences against the thrill, and seek paths that lead to brighter, lawful horizons.