Colombian police recently announced the dismantlement of a Cali-based drug cartel that specialized in coercing women to get breast implants that were actually filled with liquid cocaine.

Drug trafficking organizations ae known for coming up with all sorts of ingenious methods of sending their products all over the world to minimize getting discovered at security checkpoints. You’ve surely heard of underground tunnels several kilometers long under the Mexico-US border, or of drug smuggling submarines, but did you know about the Colombian trafficking ring using women to ship drugs all the way to Europe? Aptly named “The Surgeons”, the cartel would recruit women and force them to get breast and calf implants for which they used prosthesis filled with liquid cocaine.

Photo: philippe spitalier/Unsplash

According to the Colombian Attorney General’s Office, young women were convinced to carry the drug in prostheses in their breasts as well as their calves, and deliver it to Spain. The women were promised well-paying jobs in Europe if they agreed to have the cosmetic surgery in makeshift operating rooms in motel rooms or rented apartments.

The surgery was carried out by two people linked to the Health sector, a surgeon at a Cali hospital, and a person who posed as a doctor, but didn’t have the proper qualifications. The victims recovered in the rented rooms and were then sent on commercial flights to Madrid, where they were once again taken to improvised operating rooms to remove their prostheses filled with the alkaloid.

 

On November 10, Diario Occidente reported that 10 members of Los Cirujanos (The Surgeons) were busted following an extensive investigation and sting operation. Evidence collected by the authorities through phone tapping, surveillance and email monitoring showed that the group had been operating for at least three years.

Drug dealers have been coming up with ingenious ways of shipping their illegal products over the last few years. Back in July, we wrote about a shipment of drugs discovered by Italian police inside of hollowed-out coffee beans.