The techniques for violation are the obvious ones: claim the material is part of that permitted for essentials; bribe Customs inspectors; smuggle via Mexico using any of the thousands of trucks rolling across the border; hide the gas cylinders inside other, larger cylinders with benign markings; interchange containers in ports; mislabel the material as similar but legal chemicals (e.g., propane or HCFCs); add nitrogen to raise the pressure and mimic HCFC on the test instruments; or adulterate with a touch of water vapour and pass them off as “recycled.”
Poachers are typically paid in cash
From point of production to final sale inside North America, the black market CFCs are marketed through an underground network that is embedded inside the legal business structure. It runs from developing country manufacturer to international chemical broker to legal exporter to smuggler to illegal importer to legal distributor to retailer. That last link in the chain is often a service station owner or an auto parts shopkeeper who might not even be aware of the illegal origins of the product. Continue reading “The main factor driving this crime is the growth of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM)”