Police Officer Preparation & Law Enforcement Resource - Archive

Back in 03, I was working as a technician for a local new car dealership. Part of my duties was to inspect traded vehicles prior to sales. We got a Chevy Venture in and I noticed something strange. I had hoisted it into the air, and saw these strange metal plates tack-welded to the frame on the side opposite the gas tank on the other side.

I had never seen this before, so borrowed a co-workers air chisel, and saw these flaps cut into the floorboards. Lowered it, removed the carpets and they were hinged with tape around the edges where they had cut into the metal. I called my manager over, and we agreed we should call someone.

The next day, I had to show representatives of 3 law enforcement agencies what I had discovered, none of them had ever seen this on this vehicle before( I don't know how, they are pretty common vehicles) and they interviewed me and took about a million pictures...

Just kind of a cool anecdote from a non LEO that I would share... :thumbsup:

According to a snitch I used to have, there's a body shop in L.A. that specializes on the side making hiding places for drugs and money. I saw an Olds once that if you push one of the little pins in the middle of the A/C louvers (used for directing the air flow), a flap would open on the driver's and passenger's doors showing a hiding place. Push on another one and the same thing happened for the back doors.

Traps are very common now. I know the folks on the southern border see them a lot. I have seen many gun traps up here. All different ways to open it.

Yeah, they are common now. This was in mid 80's and it was pretty new to us. The Mexican cartels were just really getting started. I-5 is a conduit straight to Mexico and back. In the 70's, our drugs came from across the Pacific and most big busts were made on the coast. Tar heroin came about around 1984 here and it hasn't been the same since.

In 05 I took a drug interdiction class, and during part of the class, we got to see some traps first hand on a car the DEA guy brought in which had been seized.

While we're poking around looking at the traps, one of my classmates pushed one of the buttons on the car radio, and another trap door under the dash opened up, revealing a kilo of cocaine.

Wow, this was nothing as sophisticated as that, Ches, this was pretty basic, but clever in that when it got to where it was going, the recipient would just take an air chisel, remove plates, drugs fall out and then re-tack weld new panels on it... I have to admit, genius in its simplicity...

http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/features/cars/45.jpg

lard a$$, lard a$$! lol

Haha obvious drug van is obvious...

According to a snitch I used to have, there's a body shop in L.A. that specializes on the side making hiding places for drugs and money. I saw an Olds once that if you push one of the little pins in the middle of the A/C louvers (used for directing the air flow), a flap would open on the driver's and passenger's doors showing a hiding place. Push on another one and the same thing happened for the back doors.

Personally I'm waiting for the lithium battery car with phenylacetone used as a coolant. Drive it across border, return it for repair.

Maybe it happens but I am surprised that I've never heard in the news about cars using liquid drugs as functional fluids like antifreeze or transfer case fluid.

I was watching "Border Wars". They got a K9 hit on a truck heading out of the US into Mexico. They ripped it apart and found a good amount of MJ hidden behind interior trim panels. When they cut it open, they said it smelt funny or something like that. At the end of the show where they show the scrolling end-dispositions of their investigations, it indicated that the truck was bought at a seized property auction and the drugs were never previously found. The owner was released without charges. Haha.

I've only seen one drug hide / trap in-person. It was quite sophisticated (took a specific series of factory switches being tossed to open). Even then, if you didn't remove certain interior piece, it didn't have the room to open. Looking under the car, the modification was obvious.

This job is all a game. I love trying to catch on to their chess game's plan of attack.

Not exactly a drug coolant or drug lubricant, but liquid meth had been pulled out of vehicle drive shafts.

I highly suggest everyone look into taking a hide or interdiction class. Well worth the time. It was the first class I took out of the academy, and I instantly made good grabs I never would have without it.

I'm wondering if maybe that was the case of my '92 Honda Accord then? Everybody kept telling me it smelled like MJ, but I just thought it smelled like mold. What do you expect out of a car with nearly 200,000 miles on it? Of course when I was done with it, it smelled like dog. :lol: None of the mechanics that ever worked on it ever said anything though, so I guess I'll never know.