Mexico’s drug mafias are finding meth mules inside one of the world’s most popular games, as indicated by a previously unreported case in Arizona.
Grand Theft Auto players know what it’s like working for a Mexican cartel. But they do so from the comfort of their own bedroom.
In November last year, Customs and Border Protection officials in Arizona were inspecting a Jeep Cherokee when they found nearly 60kg of methamphetamine, the government said. When they asked the driver, Alyssa Navarro, what her story was, she said that in January that year she had been playing Grand Theft Auto Online when she met a man who called himself “George,” according to a search warrant unsealed late last week.
Federal investigators obtained Snapchat messages from Navarro’s phone in which George promises “a lot of money” and offered the use of a truck, believed to be the same Jeep in which she was apprehended. Whatever the government thinks happened in Navarro’s case is unclear, but she has been charged with conspiracy to import and sell methamphetamine, as well as possession. Earlier this month, she pleaded not guilty. The Department of Justice had not responded to a request for comment.