Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Blow up: how half a tonne of cocaine transformed the life of an island

theguardian.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 87 posts

Re: Blow up: how half a tonne of cocaine transformed the life of an island

#41

Post by cosmodisk »

trwy678yay wrote: post #29
GreeniFi wrote: post #2

I sometimes wonder about the psychology of people who try this sort of money-making venture, ie smuggling vast quantities of illegal drugs across the ocean. Do these “entrepreneurs” understand the risk they take, or do they pretend to themselves that there is no risk? Excepting where there is coercion, is it big balls or small brains? I’d love to hear from a smuggler to hear how they manage psychologically the huge d…

I used to deal small amounts of MJ in college, it was a great way to have a side income and honestly was pretty low-risk. When I graduated and was getting ready to move to CA, I had mentioned to my dealer that I was moving and was obviously pretty broke as I had not started working yet. He told me he could hook me up with a one time job to drive an escalade towing a boat filled with MJ from CA to the midwest and I wo…

I was told this about 10 years ago. People used to transport cocaine from Spain to Northern countries in Europe.They'd send 2 cars: empty,large SUV,with as many bells and whistles as possible. And a few miles behind a little Smart car with all the drugs. They always stopped the SUV but the little one was stopped not even once...

Re: Blow up: how half a tonne of cocaine transformed the life of an island

#42

Post by dmos62 »

jdietrich wrote: post #25
GreeniFi wrote: post #2

I sometimes wonder about the psychology of people who try this sort of money-making venture, ie smuggling vast quantities of illegal drugs across the ocean. Do these “entrepreneurs” understand the risk they take, or do they pretend to themselves that there is no risk? Excepting where there is coercion, is it big balls or small brains? I’d love to hear from a smuggler to hear how they manage psychologically the huge d…

Large-scale smuggling is highly professionalised and hugely lucrative. We're not talking about some guy with a boat, we're talking about an organisation that rivals a multinational corporation by almost any metric. One of the biggest exporters of cocaine in recent years was FARC, a Columbian rebel group that acted as the de-facto government of large areas of Columbia. Their operation was sufficiently sophisticated th…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narco-submarine

Just to make clear, makeshift submarine smuggling is not a new phenomenon. One was found abandoned in 1988, first one to be seized was in 2006, and, "by 2009, the U.S.A. detected as many as 60 narco submarine related events".

"The narco-submarines can cost about $2 million USD and take upward of a year to build.[16] Despite the costs, some of the craft are intended for one-time use, being abandoned at sea after a successful delivery. After all, their cargoes carry a street value of up to $400 million. On other seized craft however, officials found zinc bars used as sacrificial anodes, reducing corrosion on metal parts exposed to seawater.[17] As corrosion would not be a concern on a single trip but is a factor influencing long-term durability, this is a clear indication that multiple use was intended. This, in turn, opens up the question of any illicit return cargo, like weapons, that they might carry back to Colombia."

Really interesting article.

Re: Blow up: how half a tonne of cocaine transformed the life of an island

#43

Post by carmate383 »

GreeniFi wrote: post #2

I sometimes wonder about the psychology of people who try this sort of money-making venture, ie smuggling vast quantities of illegal drugs across the ocean. Do these “entrepreneurs” understand the risk they take, or do they pretend to themselves that there is no risk? Excepting where there is coercion, is it big balls or small brains? I’d love to hear from a smuggler to hear how they manage psychologically the huge d…

Easy for you to say sitting in your first-world, comfortable house with a job that pays you $250,000 USD a year. Try visiting a third (or even second) world country.

Re: Blow up: how half a tonne of cocaine transformed the life of an island

#44

Post by onetimemanytime »

cosmodisk wrote: post #41
trwy678yay wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to deal small amounts of MJ in college, it was a great way to have a side income and honestly was pretty low-risk. When I graduated and was getting ready to move to CA, I had mentioned to my dealer that I was moving and was obviously pretty broke as I had not started working yet. He told me he could hook me up with a one time job to drive an escalade towing a boat filled with MJ from CA to the midwest and I wo…

I was told this about 10 years ago. People used to transport cocaine from Spain to Northern countries in Europe.They'd send 2 cars: empty,large SUV,with as many bells and whistles as possible. And a few miles behind a little Smart car with all the drugs. They always stopped the SUV but the little one was stopped not even once...

smart. Assuming there's one unit in the road, they'll be busy checking the pimped-out ride :)

Re: Blow up: how half a tonne of cocaine transformed the life of an island

#45

Post by drewblaisdell »

yowlingcat wrote: post #36
bartimus wrote: post #35

Nice article. But the title is a bit misleading since it's hardly mentioned how life in the island got transformed.

That's fair. It's unfortunate that The Guardian's editorial has been slipping. The TLDR is that half a ton of cocaine is 453 kilos, which at a conservative estimate of 20k/kilo is (according to Quora wholesale values so take w a grain of salt) $11M street value of product if not more. So you take that and put it side by side by the economic day to day flow of the Azores. What do you get? For a 20k gdp/capita across a…

> For a 20k gdp/capita across a 250k population well...it's a lot.

But $11M / 250k is less than $50, no?

Re: Blow up: how half a tonne of cocaine transformed the life of an island

#46

Post by [deleted] »

GreeniFi wrote: post #2

I sometimes wonder about the psychology of people who try this sort of money-making venture, ie smuggling vast quantities of illegal drugs across the ocean. Do these “entrepreneurs” understand the risk they take, or do they pretend to themselves that there is no risk? Excepting where there is coercion, is it big balls or small brains? I’d love to hear from a smuggler to hear how they manage psychologically the huge d…

[deleted]

Re: Blow up: how half a tonne of cocaine transformed the life of an island

#47

Post by sasasassy »

bartimus wrote: post #35

Nice article. But the title is a bit misleading since it's hardly mentioned how life in the island got transformed.

It went from a poor fishermen's village to the poorest village for decades. It really destroyed the economy and lives of the place, there are no jobs there whatsoever and you are advised against going there without protection (which is unheard off in the rest of Portugal).

Re: Blow up: how half a tonne of cocaine transformed the life of an island

#48

Post by bartimus »

sasasassy wrote: post #47
bartimus wrote: post #35

Nice article. But the title is a bit misleading since it's hardly mentioned how life in the island got transformed.

It went from a poor fishermen's village to the poorest village for decades. It really destroyed the economy and lives of the place, there are no jobs there whatsoever and you are advised against going there without protection (which is unheard off in the rest of Portugal).

> It really destroyed the economy and lives of the place, there are no jobs there whatsoever

I can't confirm this. The economy seems to be fine (same like other regions).

> are advised against going there without protection

Really? I can't seem to find any travel advisories that confirm this?

Re: Blow up: how half a tonne of cocaine transformed the life of an island

#49

Post by notahacker »

rajacombinator wrote: post #33
GreeniFi wrote: post #2

I sometimes wonder about the psychology of people who try this sort of money-making venture, ie smuggling vast quantities of illegal drugs across the ocean. Do these “entrepreneurs” understand the risk they take, or do they pretend to themselves that there is no risk? Excepting where there is coercion, is it big balls or small brains? I’d love to hear from a smuggler to hear how they manage psychologically the huge d…

Not too much difference from tech entrepreneurs or “hackers” (in the HN sense) tbqh. Actually a lot of hackers do much crazier stuff than sell drugs, which is a pretty well established business. Selling boxes of cereal for $40 a pop is a lot more bizarre idea, for instance. Or look at any number of activities in the crypto world, which look like pure lunacy to outsiders, but have made a lot of money. The thing is, yo…

Selling boxes of cereal for $40 a pop might be a more bizarre idea, but the downside risk is that people ask you about that failed business venture for the rest of your life, not the death penalty.

Think the number of people willing to risk their lives helping some foreign smuggling contact they've just met for a couple of weeks' minimum wage income back at home (it's a lot easier to understand the incentive structure for locals in poverty or gangs than Western backpackers...) is rather higher than the number of cereal entrepreneurs though...

Re: Blow up: how half a tonne of cocaine transformed the life of an island

#50

Post by daodedickinson »

dmos62 wrote: post #42
jdietrich wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Large-scale smuggling is highly professionalised and hugely lucrative. We're not talking about some guy with a boat, we're talking about an organisation that rivals a multinational corporation by almost any metric. One of the biggest exporters of cocaine in recent years was FARC, a Columbian rebel group that acted as the de-facto government of large areas of Columbia. Their operation was sufficiently sophisticated th…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narco-submarine Just to make clear, makeshift submarine smuggling is not a new phenomenon. One was found abandoned in 1988, first one to be seized was in 2006, and, "by 2009, the U.S.A. detected as many as 60 narco submarine related events". "The narco-submarines can cost about $2 million USD and take upward of a year to build.[16] Despite the costs, some of the craft are intended for on…

>Despite the costs, some of the craft are intended for one-time use, being abandoned at sea after a successful delivery.

As foretold by Metal Gear Solid.

Post reply on HN