Smuggler’s Blues: Mexican Narco-traffickers trick the unsuspecting

¡Advertencia! Los traficantes de drogas son los trabajos de publicidad para los conductores que cruzan a los Estados Unidos. No sea una víctima de la trampa de los contrabandistas!

That’s the Spanish translation to:

“Warning! Drug traffickers are advertising jobs for drivers to cross to the United States. Don’t be a victim of the smugglers’ trap!“

It’s the message that the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency is paying Mexican newspaper publishers to be printed in a Tijuana newspaper for 30 days at a cost of US$2000.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agents

Unsuspecting though leery, some are falling prey to Mexican narco-traffickers ploy to smuggle illicit narcotics into the U.S.

It may be money well spent, since the costs associated with each arrest – incarceration, trial, etc. – far exceed the cost of advertising.

—

Mexican cartels trick border crossers into being drug mules

By Marty Graham

SAN DIEGO, California | Sun Apr 15, 2012 5:34pm EDT

(Reuters) – The Mexican help wanted ads offer a quick $500 for a simple job – drive a car into California on an errand for an “important business” organization.

But the new boss may be a drug cartel and the cargo may not be vital papers, or even money, but illegal narcotics. Hidden in the car could be marijuana, cocaine and methamphetamines that, if found by law enforcement, could land the driver in prison for many years.

The drug traffickers’ ruse has