Organized crime groups from Panama operating in Costa Rica may be using a novel method to smuggle cocaine across Central American borders. The new technique involves the use of cows as couriers that can pack dozens of kilograms of powdered cocaine hydrochloride in their intestines and scrotal sacks.

According to a news report filed by investigative journalist Carlos Castro Gamboa of daily tabloid Diario Extra, Panamanian law enforcement officials have alerted Costa Rica about the presence of recruiters from the “Baghdad” and “Kalor Kalor” smuggling crews. These recruiters are ostensibly looking for prospects who are experienced in rustling and other crimes related to cattle theft.

The most rudimentary method of turning cows into drug couriers is to pack them manually, an unpleasant task that involves inserting cocaine packets into the rectal cavities of the bovines. Later retrieval would require sifting through the fetal matter dropped by cattle.

A more complex method allegedly involves surgical insertion of cocaine packets in the rumen, the first compartment of the bovine stomach. It can be assumed that such surgical insertion may also require attaching the anatomical attachment of the packets since food collected in the rumen tends to be returned as cud for chewing.

An even more exotic surgical method ostensibly involves emptying the contents of a bull’s scrotal sack so that it can be packed with cocaine bundles. This “smuggling by castration” method is supposedly preferred by the more sophisticated traffickers.

The report by Diario Extra explains that the use of cattle for smuggling purposes may be new in Costa Rica, but it has been widely practiced in Nicaragua and the nations that make up the dangerous Central American Drug Triangle (Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua).

Law enforcement agents in the southern region of Costa Rica are currently interviewing cattle dealers who may have been approached by Mexican and Panamanian buyers flush with cash.