A report from Europol, the European police agency, notes the popularity of Bluetooth trackers among drug traffickers. These small devices allow them to track cargo.
Tech at the service of drug trafficking. Europol, the European police agency, warns of the use of Bluetooth trackers by drug traffickers in a report published on December 11. Law enforcement officials explain that many tracers were found this year in packages of cocaine, hidden in food containers. Safes inside the ships and some commercial premises used as warehouses for drugs also concealed trackers. The cargoes come from South America and are destined for ports in the European Union.
“ Based on the technological capabilities of Bluetooth trackers and information shared with Europol, it is confirmed that drug traffickers use them to track the transit of illicit cargo after it arrives at ports and enroute to Europe » we can read in the report.
Europol notes that other criminal activities use Bluetooth trackers to target vehicles in organized crime or on vessels used for migrant smuggling.
Cheap and waterproof products for criminal activities
The brands of the tracers are not specified. Agents indicate that these devices “ are popular with criminals due to their smaller size, affordability, longer battery life (around one to two years) and waterproofing compared to traditional GPS trackers. »
Most products allow you to detect the tracker over a radius of a few tens of meters with your smartphone. Apple AirTags are more efficient since they use an encrypted network developed by the brand. All nearby Apple devices send a signal to the AirTag so its owner can locate it.
Bluetooth trackers are not used to geolocate cargo at sea, GPS technology being more suited to this practice.
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