Mule (smuggling)

Small-scale operations, in which one courier carries one piece or a very small quantity, are sometimes called the ant trade.

In this case, smuggling may be done in plain sight, in smaller quantities, so that a suitcase full of used clothes or a new computer can be passed off as a personal possession rather than an importing business.

The contraband is attached to the outside of the body using adhesive tape, glue, or straps, often in such places as between the cheeks of the buttocks or between rolls of fat.

Other inconspicuous places, like the soles of cut out shoes, inside belts, or the rim of a hat, were used more often prior to the early 1990s.

In fewer cases, the drug dealers can attempt extortion against people by threatening physical harm against friends or family, but the more common practice is for swallowers to willingly accept the job in exchange for big payoffs.

[14] Emetics like syrup of ipecac, enemas, and endoscopic retrieval all carry a risk of packet rupture and should not be used.

[4][13] Some mobile phones and electronics are available for less in Hong Kong, one of China's Special Administrative Regions where the tax laws are relaxed.

Mules employed by smugglers have been found with devices strapped to their bodies in an effort to smuggle them across the border from Hong Kong to Shenzhen.

[16][17] The U.S. Supreme Court dealt with body packing in United States v. Montoya De Hernandez.

She was being held because her abdomen was noticeably swollen (she claimed to be pregnant), and a search of her body had revealed that she was wearing two pairs of elastic underpants and had lined her crotch area with paper towels.

The woman claimed her Fourth Amendment rights had been violated, but the court found in favor of the border authorities.

[citation needed] In all, around 18% of the UK's female jail population are foreigners, 60% of whom are serving sentences for drug-related offences – most of them drug mules.