Profiling postal packages.

[Julian]

Textbook Case:40 postal inspectors, 10 national guard at USPS hub on a weekend,Express Mail definitions,Procedure and Protocol.

I know what I know........

I know what I don't know.....

When I know, I add what I can.

When I don't, I sit back and read and learn.

Thousands of other cases, appeals, USPS and private statements, news, and Federal,State, and Local action reports available for anyone to search.

Now, make no mistake.....going up against 40+ postal inspectors at a single location is nowhere near going up against part time Christmas sorters, and terrifies even the most seasoned,creative and veteran of shippers.

This topic is something I know well, is not a game,and allows for no mistakes....

People tend to assume my experience and knowledge in certain matters from my posts, but, I'll state clearly, I don't post as much as I do for various reasons....(ie: I never share everything...)

In short: I guarantee I know many times more than I am saying at any given time.

 

[Julian]

Furthermore: (sorry, on a roll now ...)



We address profiling, we address criteria, but, we haven't really touched on "feel".....

There may indeed be packages at any given time picked up, and "felt", and held, and shaken, which may or may not lead them to place package aside for further review and investigation......

"Feel" is just as important as any of the screening criteria but not addressed, hence comments about defeating the "source state/city" matters.

They may pick up and hold 20 times more packages that they put aside for a closer look, and, the "feel" may very well determine if your package is grabbed or not....

Feel?...what is "feel".....

This again goes back to third party perception, which all should do in any matter......People spend far to much time thinking about what we think, when we should really be trying to place ourselves in the shoes of the exact person we are trying to evade......

"Feel".....
Every package, and every item has a different feel. (Homework: to people who mail things......go to store, wal mart, etc, and, pick up, hold and shake 100 different things..........they all feel different...sound different, different weight, etc....)

"weight and feel" is a huge, huge issue in seizures....in many cases one of the main reasons combined with other things which led to greater suspicion.....

Some think they should put items in which rattle around and shake if something picked up.....well, not a bad idea, but, if a package "feels" tight and dense....chances are it's packed tight enough so it would not rattle when moved.....

Now...private carrier?.....well, they might take that as something broken and have every right to open up and repackage..(no warrant for private carriers.....)

Also, imagine a p, or 3, or 5, or 10, or 20?..........we all know here what they feel like....

Vacuum seal a p, throw it in a flat rate priority box and shake it......not something they haven't felt 1,000 times before, and turned up a seizure...

Place a 10lb package into box...what is the "feel"........well, it's solid, or, if packed in larger box with peanuts?.....well, you can easily feel something large, and solid, moving, and, makes a disctict sound...(the thud when shaking it....)

"feel" is an integral part of the profiling and when they're on the line....(I think case above refers to how many pulled and how many set aside...I just recognized it from appellant's name...if not, examples can be found and recent one that comes to mind I read somewhere not too long ago was about 350 packages pulled, 40-50 set aside, out of 40-50 set aside, maybe 10 were clean and copies of warrants are placed in package, and, it sent on it's way......

(Ahhhh.......whole different issue....ya wondered about that didn't cha?...yes, they frequently pull packages and open, and, if wrong call, copy of warrant if USPS put inside package...if private, it's just repackages (because no warrant required....)

Anyway...whatever....lost train of thought.,...just sayin

 

[Guest]

i sit corrected

and i thought i was avoiding saying anything ....

 

[Julian]

i sit corrected

and i thought i was avoiding saying anything ....

Nothing wrong with saying anything......

Just everything..

Nothing shared that isn't common and public knowledge (ie: Nothing "they don't know"...maybe something they don't know that we know .....everyone has to take everything in and know and try and address themselves based upon what they know know to be the case......but, I guarantee these discussions will result in at least a few people altering their packages......

Source issue is the big one...nothing one can do to counter it...(short of altering the point of origin...)

Now, regarding anything and everything mentioned, the other problem is, as we see, it's completely subject to a human interpretation based on what they "know"...something might get past someone on one end, but not on other end.....(but, criteria and training is uniform, so.....but, point still stands.......it's all interpretation....)

 

[vod]

i don't think many people with your level of knowledge of a subject give it to the public free of charge julian. thank you for that.

 

[Julian]

That'll be 5 bucks please.

 

[JJScorpio]

In short these are things to pay special attention to from the opening article.....

* Emits odors of marijuana or or a masking agent (e.g., coffee, perfume, fabric-softener sheets)

* Is heavily taped along seams

* Is poorly prepared for mailing

* Appears to have been re-used

* Has an uneven weight distribution

Label Criteria

* Is handwritten

* Contains misspelled names, streets, or cities

* Originates from a drug source State

* Has been sent from an individual to an individual

* Contains return address ZIP code that does not match accepting post office ZIP code

* Shows a fictitious return address

* Lists sender's and/or receiver's names of common type (e.g., John Smith) that are not connected to either address

 

[Trancerdancer]

Are scans done on a regular basis, should steps be taken to make the package look normal inside or is the exterior (look, feel, label, etc.) the only method of IDing illegal packages?

 

[Guest]

In short these are things to pay special attention to from the opening article.....

* Emits odors of marijuana or or a masking agent (e.g., coffee, perfume, fabric-softener sheets)

* Is heavily taped along seams

* Is poorly prepared for mailing

* Appears to have been re-used

* Has an uneven weight distribution

Label Criteria

* Is handwritten

* Contains misspelled names, streets, or cities

* Originates from a drug source State

* Has been sent from an individual to an individual

* Contains return address ZIP code that does not match accepting post office ZIP code

* Shows a fictitious return address

* Lists sender's and/or receiver's names of common type (e.g., John Smith) that are not connected to either address

nice find :wink:

 

[Guest]

That'll be 5 bucks please.

im takin the first dollar of that $5 for starting the thread :wink:

 

[JJScorpio]

IrishSoCo, You should have been here when I spent two hours studying articles only to post the same one you posted 10 days ago, lol. I think I need some sleep....

I just spent another three hours reading and the effort taken for searching mail varies everywhere. In rural areas less emphasis is taken in xraying mail then is done at major airports. Everything eventually boils down to the mail profiling and the "gut feeling" of workers. The key to safe mailing will be to avoid the indicators in the opening article and have a little luck on your side. As best as I can remember I mailed nine "packages" last year and everything got to where it was going safely. I would add that nothing was big and everything was neat and the addresses/zipcodes/cities matched on the return address. The bottom line is if a worker finds your package to be suspicious and a dog indicates it has drugs in it, they are going to open it......

 

[DIGITALHIPPY]

Some of the other things missing are overnight packages, person to person, along with the labeling (handwritten), also, sizes play a big factor especially with overnight, because most overnighted are documents (business to person, person to business)

One has to remember the typical flow and origin of packages......

If one buys something from legitimate source, even if you want it asap, your not going to go too expensive on shipping.

Also, see, most overlook that with a lot of packages,tracking, overnight, signature confirmation, registered, leave a papertrail and can be tracked....(ie: Searching through cases, they easily look up previous deliveries, and sources to determine patterns....) A lot of people ship on a consistent basis and trail left only strengthens the case when investigation made...

And it will be finally made......mail can't be used indefinitely.....Just can't...doesn't work.......and, as time goes on, just gets harder...

Now, how all factors come together is also a problem because there are a lot of cases in which sniff's come back negative, even multiple sniff's coming back negative, but, based on other aspects discovered, they still get their warrants for the package....

They do check quite a bit of info in some cases, in addition, regardless of, and even before and after the exposure to dogs.....(ie: Where sent from, how paid, check with local carrier if address and name are correct and valid, check receiving end carrier for address and name, check history to and from both addresses,etc...)

It should also be noted there is no shortage of cases that illustrate prints were taken from package to try and identify the sender...(ie: In most cases they want the sender of the product much more than the receiver......)

As in another thread...most seem to think an individual responsible for screening, when in reality it's quite a production, and, making it worse is that the schedules vary, similar to border and customs...(What they have been doing for a while now is all customs agents at border crossings have their schedules changed on a moments notice consistently to try and prevent dirty agents from having the ability to get loads through.....) Same with the mail....so that there is never a pattern of where and when they will be doing parcel interdiction at certain facilities...(They are also always available on call for all facilities if they turn something up....)

Lot of people try to send things different times, and different ways because they have preconceived notions about when teams are working at a site, but, as above...there really is no fixed schedule for any facility....(I posted a link somewhere about a case they were doing incoming from west coast at a 2:30am arrival Saturday morning.......)

Can be weekdays, weekends, morning, evening, early morning......really is no fixed schedule for them......(done for reason above....)

And, that's the bottom line about mailing.....it's not even 50/50 odds anymore....

Seeds?...not a problem.......z's or less?......not really an issue.....q'pers?....still not bad.......1/2's-p's?....starting to be an issue......p's or more?.....really starting to be a serious problem and not worth the risk.....

If doing smaller......greater the chances it won't be persued, and, as above, fake names and addresses in some (many) cases the reason it might get stopped...might assist in reasonable suspicion...

Cash also sought as much as product...no reason to do anything other than money orders....even with larger amounts.....

Cases are truly endless and the good thing about reviewing cases is you often get info left out of news articles..(ie: specific details of operation...)

Btw…….

Part of that profiling for West to East and South to North for product is Hispanic sounding names and African American sounding names …..

(Try sending a package from SouthWest to Midwest or East coast fitting criteria and names of “Jesus Garcia Moralez” and see what happens ….or Henry Lee Jackson to Latonya Jenkins …..)

I have also seen packages that did not meet criteria and were business sent opened and searched….(I send and receive a LOT of packages…….everything I buy is through web these days……..I had had many packages opened…legally and not ….)

The point of my input is to make people aware because I know a lot of people send packages……

You want to send something?...send a couple “test” packages first and see how it works out……make yourself aware of efforts, of cases, of profile, and, switch up your test packages every way you can before you start your schedule ……You might be surprised at what you find……





Textbook Express case

East to West cash

DeMoss case is frequently referenced in others

Frequently mentioned case and also cross referencing of package history to address

Parcel Interdiction Team services 200 to 250 package and freight delivery locations within Orange County

Old case, but, good…seizure during training session at UPS

Consistent packages from West Coast trigger a parcel watch..

Another….

Yet another…..very small amount…

Half of an LE text….one of my latest recommended….

FedEx package…..

Lot of details in case…

Priority Saturday and paid in cash

Yet another….

Extremely interesting on many levels….….


Really endless cases and resources available….one could spend weeks reading and still never come close to finishing…lot of material out there…..could do endless links…….

I’ll leave anyone with an interest to do their own research …

Mail is not as simple as easy as most believe these days....with odd's less than 50/50......

Regarding Express Mail?.....

Another search of interest would be "Express Mail Narcotics Profiling"

Express Mail use overview. Page 2.

JJScorpio-
did you read the above thread? maybe click one of the links or two, or 4 or 5??

good info julian, im glad i dont deal with mail, west-east profile sounds like a bitch....

 

[Julian]

good info julian, im glad i dont deal with mail, west-east profile sounds like a bitch....

Same with South-North....it's difficult....been getting worse and worse and worse over time....almost getting (getting/has gotten...) to the point of really better left alone.....either change it up, or, as above, little safer to change up on points or origin...(Instead of New Mexico, shoot it out of Colorado, etc,etc,etc), but, they have so much now designated source and destination states....doesn't leave much left.....Change up is kind of a 50/50 between highway transport/freight transport, and mail...

You read thread..smoke:..) well, that being said?....it's even worse that it sounds in reality......

Not even working anymore with employees in on it(FedEx,USPS,UPS....see more and more of them all the time....)

Business packages were safe for a while (rent a storefront, cheap, throw something up and send out packages, but, the problem with legitimate packages is it's really hard to establish reasonable situations for multiple and repeat shipments....especially to residences......

Even then.....still the chance they are going to get suspicious over something small and slap a parcel watch on you (all incoming mail inspected.....) I think case posted above somewhere about a parcel watch being initiated...nothing seized, just reasonable suspicion based on frequent packages from source state...

It's much worse than it appears on surface.........

Then you can change up also with methods of shipping, sizes,sources, etc, but, then your switching also your own set criteria...(private no warrant, can open for any minor reason....)...mechanical equipment by private freight, etc, etc....but, as above, all facilities are under contract, so......(And if some company opened that didn't want to work and talk and cooperate with them?....well, guess what would happen? ......so........)

Then you have people focusing on private shipping through legit companies (let's say your tech department of corporation.........stuff like that)....well, they have private contractors with K9's come in and do non LE sweeps of facility and deal with it internally...(few of those here and there in news...)

Fuckin hard man........they're really making it hard to get things through .......

But it still does ....

See, with larger loads, it's really all in the budget.....if you have a good budget, you can get it done easy......just hard to do with none, and, lot(loads) of small guys get grabbed whole larger loads pass them by the dozen......(hell of a lot easier to get 1,000lbs through than 20...ya know?....cause budget enables more......creativity .....Ya know...you have guys run south with 50k-10k in a SUV....whole different thing when you have a trucking company and 100k to spend on vehicle alterations ....etc, etc...or 50k to spend on........things.......transport, containment, packaging, etc.......

Small guys get it 9 out of 10.........

 

[JJScorpio]

I've read all of them, and many more today. You can read yourself stupid with them, lol. There's so many different guidlines in different regions.

As for the less than 50 percent success in mailing, if I'm reading it right, I have to disagree. Everything I've sent in the last two years has gotten to it's destination. Everything sent to me has reached me. Some of these involved large numbers of clones. On top of that I know of many others that use the mail and no one was caught last year either. It's always going to be a gamble so you have to be very smart with your packaging and labeling. From my experience, vacuum sealing is a must when ever possible. And double it. The person accepting the package also has to know what to do if Leo gets it. If you don't trust the person you're sending it to as much as you trust yourself, don't send it.....The person receiving the package becomes very important if the package is intercepted. You're trusting this person with your freedom if this happens.

Good discussion everyone......

My advise in mailing would be if you're not comfortable with the person you're sending it to and you aren't going to take your time and go by the book, don't be using the mail.

 

[Julian]

west-east profile sounds like a bitch....

See, the other thing is sources and such not cut and dry....

You have Sout/SouthWest to Midwest and North/Northeast, but then you also have some traffic from NE to E..(Say, NY which is considered both a source and a destination sometimes.....), so, NY to DC may also be suspect, NY to Cleavland may also be, Minneapolis,shit like that, then you also have N-SE/E traffic (Canada)....so......it's really a mess these days.New Jersey also....so, I mean, they're not stupid by any stretch of the imagination.......they're on it...and, it's becoming worse and worse by the day...

Same goes with containers.........containment.......

They have a page somewhere which documents the newest methods of concealment found and submitted somewhere (DEA) , and, to anyone who thinks they're smart, I suggest looking through the monthly reports. (They will submit details of seizure, pictures of item(s), and then items opened.....it's really impressive actually.....from the "yeah, I knew that" to the "Holy fuckin shit how did they ever dream that up let alone find it"

(Could find it through, say "DEA+new smuggling methods+updates", something like that...I don't want to post link...safer to find it........)

 

[Julian]

Speaking of how when the budget increases, creativity increases,and loads increase accordingly

 

[Guest]

When one of my packages got stopd.. I got a called... Hi blah blah blah.. ok bye .. Nothing illegal in it .. but they were hoping it was or they were hoping I said something stupid on the phone because there reason for calling was dumb. They called to ask me about some pipe cleaners.. I had come with an order lol eh? Who calls about that??? It was HUGE ass box from england.. but it wasn't heavy not sure what they expected to find. Weight is Weight after all lol.. I think they wanted me to say bong so they could keep it I said waterpipe heh..

Point is they're watching rather you know it or not..
Government likes to sit on things if they can so they can put you away for longer or fine you for more money.. Also like doing it because it sometimes leads to the source..

U.S. and Canadian authorities monitored the Lynden, Wash.-Aldergrove, British Columbia tunnel's construction for months before moving in and shutting down the drug trafficking operation it supported in July 2005. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration arrested three Canadians from Surrey, British Columbia.

Great thread bro thanks for the info and links,they have lots of nice stuff in em for my sponge head to soak up.

 

[Julian]

Really? (probably assumed green because weight/distribution of it.....)

I get and send a lot of stuff (clean ) and, always gives me a good "feel" for current also....Not long ago had a west coast heavy order (couple Books, Hardcovers, Fedex) and, saw the delays, saw where,(there), and, came to me basically wide open (smaller package, but, extremely blocky and heavy....sure they thought it was 10 keys of whitey or H....

I send and receive 10x more clean ones than dirty, so...keeps me on top of it ...It's always interesting to me to study them and see ..(Had about 4 out of last 10 clean ones opened....)

 

[killabrown420]

What do you guys know about mailing bud to other countries from inside the U.S?

Say a friend was visiting a country for a few months and didn't want to hunt down bud when he got there. If he sent a package either ups, fed ex, usps...would customs open and take a peak at the contents, and if so how thoroughly? I'm talking a standard sized box, prepaid if possible, no smell at all, packaged properly, only an ounce or so.

 

[Julian]

Actually, aside from previous seed issues, my international packages aren't opened about 80-90% of the time.....I received 4 medium sized packages from Asia this week and all flew right through....(Machinery,electronics,,clothes,books).....which always surprises me actually........

Packaging (smell) an entirely different issue not even touched on really.....(in short though, the longer the duration, the more it will permeate.....so.....) Things like Z's though are childs play...just package right....

Disclaimer: Vacuum sealers and bags I have always used are commercial grade....cheapest about $5-600, most expensive about $3,500.

Depends on countries man, same issues apply ("source" countries....) Netherlands is going to get more interest than Switzerland, Poland, etc....(although lot of x coming in from Eastern Europe.....)

Work it into item sent....seal well.....go with business (label) and address, etc.

You said to/from I was talking about into......

Going out is 10 times easier.......contraband typically shipped in...(I'd still do the same though, package right, business origin, printed label, packed inside some kind of product....(machinery,electronics,books,clothes ....)

Edit: Although you do have to watch it, because postal systems outside US are pretty unreliable.......making registered pretty much mandatory....(I've had a lot of regular packages outgoing opened, cash taken, things taken, etc, so, that's when I started doing registered....tracking also will be seriously lacking in some cases....all depends what country your talking about....