By Andrew Hawkes
Related: 10 possible indicators of drug concealment
Officers often use the term “hidden compartment” when referring to areas in vehicles used to hide large loads of narcotics. The term is rather generic and I’d like to break it down into specifics. Hidden compartments can encompass hidden natural compartments, meaning areas of the vehicle that are hidden from view but are a natural part of the manufactured vehicle, as well as the hidden false compartment, the ones that are specifically built into vehicles to hide contraband.
The drug trafficker can use natural as well as false compartments effectively, and often there is no difference as to which one is more successful. As a highly trained drug interdiction officer, you can successfully locate both types of compartments.
The drug hauler doesn’t think like an interdiction officer, and that is what gets him or her caught. The trafficker is thinking, “If I can build this super secret compartment that no one can find, I will get away with hauling this 50 kilos of coke. ” The trafficker thinks about how well the compartment is hidden. Meanwhile, a highly skilled interdiction officer doesn’t worry about where the dope is hidden. He knows that if he picks up on the right indicators, if his interview leads to stories that don’t make sense, then he knows he is going to find the load of dope no matter where in the car it is.
With that theory in mind, let’s take a look at 10 popular areas of concealment for drug trafficking, knowing that this is not an all-inclusive list, but only 10 out of hundreds of concealment methods.
1. Wheels and tires: This natural area of a vehicle can be used to build a false compartment where the drug trafficker believes that even an experienced interdiction officer will overlook. Spare tires were popular for a long time until officers began to figure out that they were being used to transport dope. So the traffickers switched to building and welding steel compartments inside the wheels being used by the vehicles. Be sure to check for odors by letting the air out, by checking the weight of the wheel-tire combination, and by utilizing a narcotic K-9 when necessary.
2. Bumpers: False compartments can be built on the insides of front and rear bumpers. Make sure in your search techniques that you are able to compensate for any space or lack of space in bumpers. Utilizing fiber optic scopes, density meters as well as a K-9 can assist in this area. Be sure to check the nuts and bolts that attach the bumpers to the car. Do they have recent marks on them?
3. Behind or under the backseat: This is an extremely popular concealment location. I like to refer to this area as the “lazy trafficker’s hidden compartment. ” For some reason, they don’t think an experienced interdiction officer will bother to look under and behind the backseat. Wrong! Be sure to compensate for any space or lack thereof behind the backseat, as well as between the seat and the trunk. This is not only a popular natural hiding place, but a popular location to build a false compartment as well.
4. Doors: Traffickers like to hide bundles of dope in the naturally hollow spaces inside vehicle doors. Simply by popping off the inside plastic cover they can access this area and then put the covers back in place. Check these areas by K-9 and interdiction equipment. An “old school” method is when tapping on the doors, they should sound hollow, not solid. Officers can also check for scarred bolts and nuts and check to see whether the windows roll down all the way. If they do not, this is a tell-tale sign of packages of dope hindering the windows from rolling down on the inside of the door.
5. Rocker panels and fenders: This natural area of the vehicle has been used for years by Mexican smugglers. You can check for Bondo-type body-repair compound on the front fenders in the engine compartment, any trip wires or fresh paint as well. Rocker panels are areas of the vehicle frame that can be accessed through the wheel wells and can be hidden well. A K-9 is best to use on rocker panels. Also check for Bondo on the inside of the wheel well and fresh paint and added dirt or mud.
6. Fuel tanks: This is another popular natural hidden compartment. The old method of the smuggler was to simply unbolt the gas tank from the vehicle, load it up with dope and reattach it. However, skilled interdiction officers picked up on this by noticing the tanks have been recently removed from the vehicle. So then traffickers started cutting through the frame, often underneath the backseat, and cutting holes into the tank where they dropped their packages of dope inside then closed it up. Look for fresh tampering underneath the backseat or trunk area, depending on the location of the tank.
7. Floors: This can be a source of false or natural concealment. An identical sheet metal floor can be constructed on top of the existing floor to resemble the factory floor. Look for uncompensated space, maybe as small as one inch in height that would allow for kilos of dope to be lined beneath it. I have also seen very thin vacuum-sealed bags of dope placed underneath the carpet of the vehicle.
8. Dashboard: Look for dope simply stuffed behind dashboards, or for false compartments that accessed by special trip wires. Do not overlook the air conditioner components as well.
9. Undercarriage: Often times the trafficker will attempt to weld steel boxes or compartments on the undercarriage of the vehicle. These can usually be located by a thorough inspection of the undercarriage, by crawling under the vehicle or using a telescoping mirror.
10. Pickup trucks: Do not overlook some of the great areas, natural as well as false, being utilized by traffickers in pickups. False beds can be welded just a few inches above and on top of the original bed. Look to see whether the bed is flush with the tailgate when the tailgate is dropped and opened. Also be aware of the same tactic but built underneath the original bed instead of above it. This will sometimes require the removal of the rear bumper to see the discrepancy. False front walls of pickup beds can be made using the same techniques and then covered up by a mounted toolbox. Removal of the tool box may be required to locate it, either by probable cause or consent or canine sniff. The natural hollow walls of a pickup truck can hold vast amounts of dope. These areas are often accessed by simply removing the taillights and packing it in. Check these areas by removing the taillights, or by checking for solid sounds where it should be hollow, or by interdiction equipment.
These are just a few of many areas of concealment for drug traffickers. By becoming familiar with them and knowing how to locate them, you have just given yourself 10 areas of the vehicle to make sure that you clear before releasing the suspected drug trafficker.
As always, stay safe and continue to fight the good fight.
Sgt. Andrew Hawkes is a 17-year law enforcement veteran. He began working highway drug interdiction full time in 1993. Hawkes has won many awards in Texas for his interdiction success. He has been an interdiction instructor for police departments, area police academies and for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency’s basic narcotic investigators’ school. Hawkes has completed graduate courses in public administration and holds a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Dallas Baptist University. Hawkes’ latest publication, Secrets of Successful Highway Drug Interdiction is a “how to” book for the street officer wishing to develop drug interdiction skills without all the complicated police jargon and terminology that goes with a lengthy and expensive training class. Hawkes has been featured in The Dallas Morning News and TNOA Narcotic Officer’s Quarterly as well as many area newspapers and law enforcement Web sites.
Learn more about Andrew Hawkes’ drug interdiction training at:
www.druginterdictiontraining.com
www.highwaydruginterdiction.com
Disclaimer: All training material and articles by Andrew Hawkes are sold or made available to law enforcement officers only through secure Web sites. Any of his publications made public via the Internet without the written permission of Andrew Hawkes are unauthorized.