Brazoria County Sheriff's Office

Identification Division

Use of arthropods in investigation of contraband trafficking

Many arthropods are found together with stored products, even such products as narcotics and other drugs. Since illegal drugs are often made in one country, and sold in others, it can be important to find out where the drugs was produced. Some times, insects and other arthropods can be found together with the drugs. If these insects are determined, and the world distribution of the different insects are plotted on a map, one can by analyzing the degree of overlap, find out approximately where the drugs came from. If one looks at the biology of the insect species found with the drugs, one can also often say something about the surroundings where the drugs were produced or packed.

For More Information on contraband please see BCSO Narcotic Page