Attack of the Clones: Smugglers use fake delivery trucks to do their thing

That criminals go to great lengths to accomplish their goals is not news. How they do so can be interesting, however. ABC News has posted a report on its Blotter website detailing an FDLE study on how smugglers "clone" vehicles to make their criminal enterprises easier to run. A few thousand dollars can net a bad guy some high quality decals or wraps that help transform regular trucks into replicas of actual, branded delivery or municipal vehicles. Throw in an official (or official-looking) uniform and criminals can hide in plain sight, traveling freely without raising suspicion. The ABC report tells of one traffic stop in which authorities stopped what appeared to be a Cable/Satellite service van only to find hundreds of pounds of cocaine inside. The van's disguise even included a toll-free number for other drivers to report bad driving. Anyone who called it found themselves on a phone sex line. Smugglers also appear to have a healthy sense of irony if the tale of a bust in Arizona is any indication. There, border patrol agents caught someone ferrying 31 illegal aliens in the back of a van. Its markings? U.S. Border Patrol. Read the whole story here.

[Source: ABC News via Schneier on Security via Instapundit)