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Susan Collins: Drug Smuggling Scam Targets Seniors

U.S. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, chair of the Senate Aging Committee, says federal investigators have uncovered a scam operation by drug smugglers to enlist unknowing seniors to help them smuggle drugs across international borders.

“International criminal cartels have begun to use unsuspecting American seniors as mules to smuggle narcotics across international borders,” she says.

Collins says many seniors have been arrested for drug smuggling in foreign countries and some have been jailed.

“At least 145 victims have been arrested by foreign governments as a result of this scam and approximately 30 of them remain incarcerated overseas,” she says.

Collins says seniors across the country, including at least one in Maine, have been duped into transporting drugs. She says federal law enforcement agencies need to do more to stop the scams and help seniors caught up in the schemes.

Journalist Mal Leary spearheads Maine Public's news coverage of politics and government and is based at the State House.