K-9 officers of the Narcotics Control Police in Costa Rica (Spanish initials: PCD) recently detected the presence of 83 kilograms of cocaine concealed under the floorboards of a bus headed to El Salvador. PCD agents noticed a certain pattern in the colorful packaging of the various confiscated bricks; some were branded with logos while others had interesting designs and packaging. What is the logic behind this merchandising-like practice?

According to the official press release by Fuerza Publica -Costa Rica’s national police force- the bus was stopped at the Penas Blancas checkpoint on the border with Nicaragua. This is a very busy checkpoint often crossed by Nicaraguan immigrants as well as by expats from Canada and the United States who live in Guanacaste in a state of perpetual tourism, which requires border runs for visa renewals every three months.

Penas Blancas is also part of the Central American and Caribbean corridor that drug cartels use to transport cocaine from South America to North America and major points of demand such as Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, New York City, Toronto, etc.

When the K-9 officer barked and scratched the aisle floor of the bus, PCD officers conducted a thorough search while the 39 passengers waited at the customs area. It took the officers considerable effort to discover the drugs sniffed by the K-9; in the end, they disassembled the floor boards to uncover dozens of bricks wrapped in pink packaging with a blue star stamped on top. The other two packaging designs include black glossy wrappers with a large, subdued letter X as well as a stylish yellow covering that resembles old-fashioned stationery paper stamped with a mysterious sapphire-blue design.

A Matter of Cartel Logistics or Marketing?

Although this is hardly the first time that law enforcement agents in Costa Rica seize branded cocaine bricks, this may be the most colorful and creative packaging design to date. The appearance suggests visual marketing, but a May 2012 report by Borderland Beat suggests that branding bricks may be a matter of function over style:

Often, when cocaine is discussed [by Mexican drug cartels], the term stamps is frequently referred to, which is a reference to markings on the packages of cocaine. These markings can be on the cocaine ‘brick’ itself, embedded into the surface, or on the plastic wrapping.

The markings found on the kilos seized in Peru are ‘The Lion’, ‘The Polo’, and ‘Louis Vuitton’, three brands which apparently are used by the Tijuana Cartel. The Lion likely refers to the popular brand ‘Express’ [,] a commonly worn brand […] popular with youths, comparable to an Abercrombie and Fitch, or Hollister.

Last month, Insight Crime reported two large cocaine seizures in Ecuador that were believed to have belonged to La Familia Michoacana, a Mexican drug cartel that has been largely been replaced by the Knights Templar:

Police Commander Marcelo Suarez said the logos found on the cocaine packets suggest the load belonged to the Familia Michoacana, as they were similar to those found during a May operation that resulted in the seizure of 470 kilos of cocaine, also supposedly belonging to the Familia. The cocaine in both shipments had the logos of Volvo, BMW, and Toyota as seals of identification

The Costa Rica Star has previously reported on the Knights Templar and their difficulties establishing operations in Costa Rica.

Law enforcement agents in the United Kingdom have a different take on the use of cocaine logos. The following is from a 2009 BBC report:

The Forensic Science Service and [Britain’s Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA)] have assembled a gallery of cocaine “brands”, such as Scorpion and Union Jack, as well as those featuring logos the gangs have hijacked from legitimate companies.

SOCA believes that some drug gangs are buying high-purity kilo blocks of cocaine, breaking them up and mixing them with other chemicals before re-pressing them and selling them on as top quality wholesale drugs.

It also explains why smugglers brand their cocaine by putting logos on kilo blocks.

A discussion thread in a popular online forum dedicated to narcotics talk posits a more strategic purpose to cocaine branding:

[There so many small cartels] these days after larger cartels have been split [… ] and also production volume is growing, [and so] a special system for identification must be used. A unique stamp, a scorpion or a cobra, differentiates one group from the next in consolidated shipments, which are currently the most common means of exporting C. Thats it!

All these groups which are involved in smuggling must spread their risk, it is why shipments are consolidated and when shipments are interdicted, dozens of identification stamps are usually found.

Speaking of the scorpion stamp, this is a design that frequently appears on seized bricks. It is believed to be the marking of the Sinaloa Cartel, which has been likened to a multinational corporation in the wake of the arrest of “Chapo” Guzman. This is a cartel that law enforcement in Costa Rica considers has already  established operations in Guanacaste.

Clever packaging and branding of cocaine is not limited to wholesale smuggling operations. According to a November crime beat report published by Discovering Sao Paulo, street-level and retail cocaine packaging in that Brazilian megalopolis has reached sophisticated levels of marketing:

this particular stash of cocaine was divided into handy easy to use capsules complete with nozzles and branded “Neymar”. Yes, Neymar [the Brazilian football star who currently plays for the FC Barcelona in Spain]

When questioned by police over the use of Neymar’s image and the accompanying slogan “Boas Festas” [Happy Holidays], the [suspect] explained that it served to highlight [that] the product is of the highest quality.

Appropriating logos owned by established brands for the purpose of branding drugs is nothing new; in Costa Rica, this practice is more commonly observed in MDMA “ecstasy” tablets or individual hits of LSD. In 2008, however, a Swiss artist flipped things around a bit with his exhibit of Dior, Ferrari and Versace logos made from powdered cocaine hydrochloride suspended and encased in resin.