SOMETIMES, THE TRUTH is stranger than fiction.
And, sometimes, true life crime is even more outrageous and shocking than what we see in thriller flicks. Here are some of the most outlandish, over-the-top drug busts or heists of all time…
Back in 2012, investigators were led to the perpetrators to a $80m pharmaceutical heist in Miami… by an errant water bottle left at the scene. The drug theft scheme was hatched by two brothers from Cuba, and it was elaborate – involving abseiling into a warehouse and disabling alarm systems. However, after all the months of stake-outs and planning, it was forensic evidence left behind on a pesky bottle that led to their undoing.
The scene is set all across the wide expanse of Australia in 2008 – the world’s largest ecstasy bust is about to go down, all based in a system of corrupt Melbourne freighters. Drugs with a street value of AUS$440m were to be seized, linked through a network spanning across five states through different crime bosses. Raids took place simultaneously all across the country by the Australian Federal Police after a year-long investigation. People right down and up the ladder were caught – from head honchos to dock workers.
In 2010, authorities shut down their second drug-running cross-border tunnel between Mexico and the US – one with a rail system, ventilation and lighting. The tunnel was 2,200 feet long and ran from the kitchen in a home in Tijuana to warehouses in San Diego’s Otay Mesa district. It was accessed via an 80 to 90 feet drop. Authorities seized more than 20 tonnes of marijuana in the bust and claimed it was all the work of the Sinaloa cartel, run by drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.
By now, Pablo Escobar’s cocaine dealings are a well-known part of Colombian history. He worked out of the massive (and now-infamous) “Tranquilandia” – a large-scale, almost village-like warren of 19 laboratories used to mass produce and process cocaine. It was located in the heart of the jungle in Caquetá and was destroyed in 1984 by the Colombian National Police, assisted by the US DEA.
What would you do if you were to be caught by customs officials with £50m worth of hashish? Perhaps not what this band of drug smugglers did just last year – which is set the entire ship they were aboard on fire, torching the lot. Nine people on board the ship (which was off the coast of Sicily) had to be rescued by Italian authorities. Firefighting boats were called to deal with the blaze and the crew, who were said to be Egyptian and Syrian aboard a Tanzanian-registered boat, did not get away.
A drugs gang, operating in England, were plotting to import €440m worth of cocaine off the coast of wild west Cork in 2007 when things went somewhat awry. The plan came undone at the seams when the engine on one of the boats being used to transfer the drugs from a catamaran to the shore cut out – after one of the hapless gang filled it with diesel intead of petrol.
An Bronntanas is TG4’S new five-part contemporary thriller set against the backdrop of the rugged Connemara coastline. On a stormy night, a lifeboat crew is called out on a rescue mission. When they find the endangered boat, they come across a single crew member, murdered and handcuffed to the steering wheel and a cargo of over €1 million worth of drugs. This unexpected windfall seems too good to leave behind or report… An Bronntanas will air from Thursday, 23rd of October at 9:30pm on TG4.
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