Look, I obviously understand that a random newbie on the scene of a specialized illegal trade like hard drugs is going to need a way to introduce himself to a trustworthy clientele, in order to protect himself and his investment.
That said, if you think that in a given major US city the heroin trade is so regimented and organized that someone with a lump of good product, ready to move for cash in hand would be instantly victimized and left dead in an alley somewhere instead of courted and recruited for bigger and better deals in the future, you are just mistaken…
As the poster above mentioned, any ring that is in complete control of a given market would incorporate the new guy and hopefully turn themselves on to a new, reliable source.
Most likely the people who would bring back drugs from Afgahanistan were involved in the “business” before they left. Unfortunately not all our servicemen are squeaky clean. Therefore they already have contacts to deal with when they bring the goods back stateside. There haven’t been any large scale busts that I’ve heard of but there must be more going on than the general public knows about.
Is opium actually processed into heroin in Afghanistan?
I know Afghanistan grows a lot of opium, but I thought that the processing was done mainly in Pakistan and Sicily.
I just asked him about it again, and he says no, no one got inspected leaving at all. Just threw their bags in the back of a pickup truck and they were loaded on the c-130 home. I dunno. He was in a combat zone, but he wasn’t a foot soldier, he never left the base. Maybe that makes a difference? He says he never saw any of the army guys get inspected upon departure, either.
I would be very surprised if it didn’t happen and very surprised if it was wide spread.
There are undoubtedly people in the military cunning enough and anti-social enough to organize a conspiracy to smuggle drugs out of Afghanistan, who also have the opportunity. But I don’t think there are that many of them.
I knew a guy from my home town who was in the first Gulf War and he smuggled a shit load of stuff back including fully automatic Iraqi weapons, American night vision goggles and other stuff. He and some of the other guys in his unit were eventually arrested, but not before they had sold a lot of guns.
Just threw their bags in the back of a pickup truck and they were loaded on the c-130 home. I dunno. He was in a combat zone, but he wasn’t a foot soldier, he never left the base. Maybe that makes a difference? He says he never saw any of the army guys get inspected upon departure, either.