DNM sellers are mostly not too bright[1], and the dreaded killer weed is relatively smelly, bulky, and low-value compared to something like fentanyl. If I remember right, they use, or at least used to use, heat-sealed mylar bags, which you’d expect would leak.
If I wanted to ship fentanyl past dogs, I’d research the possibility of sealing it in glass ampoules. A correctly sealed ampoule will hold a hard vacuum for decades. Assuming it was properly cleaned on the outside, I don’t believe a dog would detect it even from sniffing it directly. And I do know some of the very impressive things dogs can detect. Welded metal vessels can also be pretty tight.
A bit off topic, dogs are also unreliable enough that they shouldn’t really be allowed to be used, even if you think mass-searching shipments is OK to begin with. It’s not that dog doesn’t know what’s there; it’s that the communication between the dog and the handler is suspect.
That’s a big assumption! It is difficult to clean truly thoroughly (see eg disappearing polymorph contamination), and DNM sellers have been busted using fingerprints even when they thought they were being careful to avoid that. It is surely possible with enough care, but by the point you’re using vacuum-sealed glass ampoules and cleanrooms to avoid contamination on the outside...
It definitely raises the bar, and it may very well raise it well out of reach of the average DNM seller, but I think you may be imagining the whole process to be harder than it has to be.
I have everything I’d need to seal ampoules lying around downstairs[1]. It’s a few hundred dollars worth of stuff. More than a bag sealer, but not a fortune. You wouldn’t even have to buy blanks; you could make them from plain tubing. You don’t have to seal them under vacuum. There’s not that much skill involved, either; closing a tube is about as simple as flameworking can get. The biggest learning investment would probably be learning how to handle the torch without unfortunate unintended consequences.
You don’t have to avoid contamination; you just have to clean it off. One nice thing about glass is that you can soak it for as long as you like in a bottle of just about any any noxious fentanyl-eating chemical you can identify. You can wash down the outside of the bottle with the same stuff. I doubt you’d have to resort to any exotic chemicals; one or another of bleach, peroxide, lye, or your favorite mineral acid would probably destroy it pretty rapidly.
It would be a really good idea to have a separate pack-and-ship facility, and an accomplice to run it, but you don’t need to resort to a clean room.
FIngerprints (and stray hairs and the like) would actually be much harder to deal with, although of course they won’t alert dogs.
Hmm, but that has trade-off with not showing up as suspect to X-ray. So maybe a mix of approaches makes it quite expensive to smuggle drugs and thus limit supply/raise price/drop consumption
DNM sellers are mostly not too bright[1], and the dreaded killer weed is relatively smelly, bulky, and low-value compared to something like fentanyl. If I remember right, they use, or at least used to use, heat-sealed mylar bags, which you’d expect would leak.
If I wanted to ship fentanyl past dogs, I’d research the possibility of sealing it in glass ampoules. A correctly sealed ampoule will hold a hard vacuum for decades. Assuming it was properly cleaned on the outside, I don’t believe a dog would detect it even from sniffing it directly. And I do know some of the very impressive things dogs can detect. Welded metal vessels can also be pretty tight.
A bit off topic, dogs are also unreliable enough that they shouldn’t really be allowed to be used, even if you think mass-searching shipments is OK to begin with. It’s not that dog doesn’t know what’s there; it’s that the communication between the dog and the handler is suspect.
Smarter than buyers, but still not smart.
That’s a big assumption! It is difficult to clean truly thoroughly (see eg disappearing polymorph contamination), and DNM sellers have been busted using fingerprints even when they thought they were being careful to avoid that. It is surely possible with enough care, but by the point you’re using vacuum-sealed glass ampoules and cleanrooms to avoid contamination on the outside...
It definitely raises the bar, and it may very well raise it well out of reach of the average DNM seller, but I think you may be imagining the whole process to be harder than it has to be.
I have everything I’d need to seal ampoules lying around downstairs[1]. It’s a few hundred dollars worth of stuff. More than a bag sealer, but not a fortune. You wouldn’t even have to buy blanks; you could make them from plain tubing. You don’t have to seal them under vacuum. There’s not that much skill involved, either; closing a tube is about as simple as flameworking can get. The biggest learning investment would probably be learning how to handle the torch without unfortunate unintended consequences.
You don’t have to avoid contamination; you just have to clean it off. One nice thing about glass is that you can soak it for as long as you like in a bottle of just about any any noxious fentanyl-eating chemical you can identify. You can wash down the outside of the bottle with the same stuff. I doubt you’d have to resort to any exotic chemicals; one or another of bleach, peroxide, lye, or your favorite mineral acid would probably destroy it pretty rapidly.
It would be a really good idea to have a separate pack-and-ship facility, and an accomplice to run it, but you don’t need to resort to a clean room.
FIngerprints (and stray hairs and the like) would actually be much harder to deal with, although of course they won’t alert dogs.
Doesn’t everybody have basic glassblowing and welding equipment? Kids these days.
Hmm, but that has trade-off with not showing up as suspect to X-ray. So maybe a mix of approaches makes it quite expensive to smuggle drugs and thus limit supply/raise price/drop consumption