Ford Fusions being used to smuggle drugs

[fuzzymoomoo]

http://www.thedrive.com/news/9664/marijuana-is-being-smuggled-into-the-us-in-ford-fusions

 

Lincoln MKZs also being used.

[NLPRacing]

This story smells a little like "fake news". The websites running stories about Mexican made Ford Fusions as El Chapo's preferred smuggling vehicle all reference a "alphanewsmn.com" story titled "Mexican Cartels Use Ford Fusions to Smuggle Marijuana into Minnesota / Is Ford’s Mexico plant being used by El Chapo’s Sinaloa cartel to smuggle drugs and weapons into America?". I wouldn't consider "Alpha News" to be a reputable, unbiased news site. I find it funny that they would run a story to connect Mexican made goods being imported into the USA used to smuggle El Chapo's drugs around the same time that Ted Cruz introduces a bill for El Chapo to pay for the wall. Are drugs being smuggled in Mexican made Ford Fusions? Probably. They are also being smuggled many other ways as well. The problem I have with this article is that it makes a lot of assumptions to connect dots to make a very particular point that just so happens to support a particular political agenda.

[2b2]

^ posted elsewhere:

"hmm... if a FACT (who IS theDrive anyway?), it doesn't seem like the smugglers are all that concerned with SELLING the pot, since it's going to the dealers free of charge..."

[bzcat]

The police report seems legit - https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-njCs1e136pSXRjeHVnU3BGU2M/view

 

and https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-njCs1e136pNG5SUjM1SDZwVHM/view

 

and the photo in the article came from here: https://www.facebook.com/DilworthPolice/photos/a.866780740002625.1073741829.845071245506908/1723757200971637/?type=3&theater which was a different MN town.

Edited April 26, 2017 by bzcat

[bzcat]

This story smells a little like "fake news". The websites running stories about Mexican made Ford Fusions as El Chapo's preferred smuggling vehicle all reference a "alphanewsmn.com" story titled "Mexican Cartels Use Ford Fusions to Smuggle Marijuana into Minnesota / Is Ford’s Mexico plant being used by El Chapo’s Sinaloa cartel to smuggle drugs and weapons into America?". I wouldn't consider "Alpha News" to be a reputable, unbiased news site. I find it funny that they would run a story to connect Mexican made goods being imported into the USA used to smuggle El Chapo's drugs around the same time that Ted Cruz introduces a bill for El Chapo to pay for the wall. Are drugs being smuggled in Mexican made Ford Fusions? Probably. They are also being smuggled many other ways as well. The problem I have with this article is that it makes a lot of assumptions to connect dots to make a very particular point that just so happens to support a particular political agenda.

 

 

I agree that they speculated about Mexico being the source without evidence (they could have easily been put in the car while in transit within the US). But as I posted, the police reports seem real and police in MN did find weed in the cars.

Edited April 26, 2017 by bzcat

[Pioneer]

Wouldn't be the first for something like this.

 

My home plant used to send stampings, coil springs, sway bars and catalytic convertors to Hermosillo. The same rail cars went back and forth. Money went down, drugs came back. I think the hilo drivers and some people in material handling were busted before it closed.

[RichardJensen]

 

 

I agree that they speculated about Mexico being the source without evidence (they could have easily been put in the car while in transit within the US). But as I posted, the police reports seem real and police in MN did find weed in the cars.

 

What I'm curious about is, ok, so clearly this is an effective means to ship drugs, because they wouldn't put that much pot in a car without having a 'system' for removing it.

 

My question is, do they really expect to be able to consistently and reliably break into the rail transport cars to retrieve the pot? I mean, isn't that a bit chancier than, say, getting someone hired at the receiving yard?

 

Also, what happened to the guy in Minnesota? I mean clearly someone was supposed to retrieve that pot and didn't, and that's a lot of, uh, inventory, to lose track of.

Edited April 27, 2017 by RichardJensen

[jcartwright99]

Wouldn't be the first for something like this.

 

My home plant used to send stampings, coil springs, sway bars and catalytic convertors to Hermosillo. The same rail cars went back and forth. Money went down, drugs came back. I think the hilo drivers and some people in material handling were busted before it closed.

 

Which plant? The first plant that came to mind for me is the now closed Monroe Stamping plant. Well, now it's a warehouse for Ford.

[Pioneer]

 

Which plant? The first plant that came to mind for me is the now closed Monroe Stamping plant. Well, now it's a warehouse for Ford.

Yep. Monroe.

[jcartwright99]

Yep. Monroe.

 

I knew it. I worked there one summer while I was going to school. I was a TPT so basically a swing man during the summer. I was working either an afternoon or midnight shift one night and our line broke for lunch. I came back to the line to start after lunch and there were a lot of folks missing. Manager looking around and someone tells him there was a drug bust at the bar down the street and a lot of folks on the line I was working weren't coming back for a while. I had to push a broom for a little bit to make my 8 hours and then was sent home. The joys of working in a factory.

 

There were a lot of good people at that plant (and some not so good). It's a shame it doesn't exist like it once did but that's the world we live in now.

[bzcat]

 

What I'm curious about is, ok, so clearly this is an effective means to ship drugs, because they wouldn't put that much pot in a car without having a 'system' for removing it.

 

My question is, do they really expect to be able to consistently and reliably break into the rail transport cars to retrieve the pot? I mean, isn't that a bit chancier than, say, getting someone hired at the receiving yard?

 

Also, what happened to the guy in Minnesota? I mean clearly someone was supposed to retrieve that pot and didn't, and that's a lot of, uh, inventory, to lose track of.

 

They probably have an inside man at BNSF but maybe he was out sick they day the train came in to MN... You read about the same thing at airports once in a while. Either someone working in luggage handling or airlines get busted and it usually happened because the person that's been doing it was not at work that day and someone else doing his or her job found the drugs.

 

I would be curious if Fusion and MKZ are routinely delivered to customers in MN without spare tires. I remember Mercedes doing a recall a few years ago when it found out some of its SUVs from Alabama had "missing" spare tires when it reached dealers on the West Coast. Did we really think someone at the factory forgot to put in the spare tire just on SUVs headed to the West Coast... or it was removed during transit?

Edited April 27, 2017 by bzcat

[silvrsvt]

Wouldn't be the first for something like this.

 

My home plant used to send stampings, coil springs, sway bars and catalytic convertors to Hermosillo. The same rail cars went back and forth. Money went down, drugs came back. I think the hilo drivers and some people in material handling were busted before it closed.

 

One of the stories I heard from my old man was there was drug ring at Kansas City Assembly and with all the plant shutdowns and employees moving to new plants about 10-13 years ago, the FBI got a insider in saying they came from Edison to break the case open.

[fuzzymoomoo]

 

They probably have an inside man at BNSF but maybe he was out sick they day the train came in to MN... You read about the same thing at airports once in a while. Either someone working in luggage handling or airlines get busted and it usually happened because the person that's been doing it was not at work that day and someone else doing his or her job found the drugs.

 

I would be curious if Fusion and MKZ are routinely delivered to customers in MN without spare tires. I remember Mercedes doing a recall a few years ago when it found out some of its SUVs from Alabama had "missing" spare tires when it reached dealers on the West Coast. Did we really think someone at the factory forgot to put in the spare tire just on SUVs headed to the West Coast... or it was removed during transit?

It doesn't necessarily have to be breaking into rail cars. It's pretty easy to track what city a particular car is going to at the plant level just by looking at window stickers. All they would need is someone working at or near the holding yard and get into the cars while they're waiting to be loaded onto trucks for final delivery.

[blazerdude20]

 

 

Also, what happened to the guy in Minnesota? I mean clearly someone was supposed to retrieve that pot and didn't, and that's a lot of, uh, inventory, to lose track of.

 

I'm guessing his family "lost track" of him afterwards. not a good idea to upset cartels.