Drug cartels are increasingly using the mail system to ship drugs throughout Michigan, breaking shipments into smaller packages to escape discovery.
Authorities believe that cartels are using tactics like dryer sheets to disguise the smell of drugs inside packages.
Cordairo Lambert, 38, was arrested in July after picking up one of two items shipped from Arizona to two Grand Rapids homes that were roughly seven blocks apart.
Grand Rapids police and postal inspectors were monitoring Lambert without his knowledge.
When apprehended, authorities claimed to have seized two shipments containing dryer sheets, school supplies, candy, and roughly three pounds of cocaine.
Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker said his agency has monitored six cocaine deliveries weighing more than a kilogram each since last year.
According to Derek Ress, a United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent, increased security makes it more difficult for cartels to smuggle significant volumes of drugs at once.
“Instead, they are saying, ‘OK, let’s break it up into a hundred different shipments,’ which may go all over the region,” Ress told me.
Cartels are increasingly exploiting mail delivery firms to transport drugs.
“The packaging through the postal services seems to be the big one currently,” Ress told me. “These men excel at deception. So they’re excellent at blending in. You never know who might be hiding in your neighborhood.
With the opioid crackdown, cocaine demand and price are increasing. A kilogram of cocaine that cost $15,000 to $16,000 last year now sells for $20,000 to $30,000. This price hike has pushed cartels to work harder to get cocaine into the region.