Many recent high profile drug smuggling cases have brought to light the plight of many drug mules.
What it has also shown is that there seems to be a thread that connects many of these cases - the characteristics of the mules themselves.
So what does it take to go about choosing a drug mule? Here are a few of the things that most of the recent high-profile cases of drug mules seem to tell us.
Looks
Physical looks is a pretty big component. The mule has to be pretty, but not too pretty, handsome, but not too handsome. The drug kingpin wants people to respond well to his drug mules due to their physical attractiveness, but then forget about them. He cannot have beautiful people or they will draw attention. Nor can he have ugly people who will also draw attention. Mules look non-threatening. His mules will probably not have any clearly visible marks like tattoos either, unless they are easily hidden with clothing.
Clothing
Average is the word here. You don’t want anyone wearing Armani any more than you want them dressed in rags. Either will draw too much attention. Mules will be wearing very average clothes and they will look comfortable in them because that is probably what they normally wear at home. No striking colours, no flashy jewellery and nothing that sticks out of the crowd.
Education
Transporting something for a few grand payoff when the downside of getting caught is often a death penalty may seem like a no brainer to most people - except the drug mule. As you can imagine then, the level of education amongst this group of people is quite limited. Smart people wouldn’t go near this vocation with a barge pole. This is borne out by most of the examples available to us with recent high profile cases.
Economic Circumstances
Once again, the over-riding factor amongst drug mules as far as their economic circulmstances go is comparative poverty. Most drug mules are either destitute or from solidly working class background. Basically they are people to whom a couple of grand seems like a lot of money. There are not too many mule recruiters cruising Rodeo Drive or the casinos of Monte Carlo.
In essence, drug mules are average looking joes with below average education who can be lured by cash. The sad part is that these people often don’t have the intellectual fortitude to see a better way out of their personal situations and are generally easy pickings for syndicates and other groups involved in moving drugs.