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Looking For iPad, Police Find 750 Pounds of Meth
An anonymous reader writes "Hot on the trail of a stolen iPad using the 'Find my iPad' feature in iOS, Police in San Jose tracked the stolen device back to an apartment complex where they then stumbled onto 750 pounds of meth. All told, the meth is worth about $35 million on the street. The seizure was one of the largest drug busts in recent memory."
The actual lesson is: Criminals are bloody stupid. If I had $35 million worth of drugs in a place, I would avoid doing anything that could get the police into my place. Like stealing an iPad. Or even picking one up that someone left on the train or bus.
They're even stupider than you think. The police didn't have a search warrant, so they just asked if they could come in, and the people in the apartment said yes. Can you believe it? They've got $35mm worth of meth and they invite the cops in? They must have been under the influence of drugs at the time...
By the way, to give credit where credit is due, it was detectives from Palo Alto who found the meth, not San Jose police, although the apartment was in San Jose.
Well we are assuming the dealer wasn't also an idiot who would risk $35M worth of drugs for an electronic device you can get brand new for $500, $800 tops with all the options.
Don't bet against the stupidity of criminals. From the FBI report on the 1993 World Trade Center Bombing:
In the rubble investigators uncovered a vehicle identification number on a piece of wreckage that seemed suspiciously obliterated. A search of our crime records returned a match: the number belonged to a rented van reported stolen the day before the attack. An Islamic fundamentalist named Mohammad Salameh had rented the vehicle, we learned, and on March 4, an FBI SWAT team arrested him as he tried in vain to get his $400 deposit back.
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .