Earlier this month Guatemalan police seized a massive cocaine shipment as it was heading for the Mexican border. Valued at $15.8 billion dollars, the 136 thousand kilogram shipment of cocaine was being transported by seven vehicles across Guatemala, eventually destined for the United States.

Aside from the sheer volume of drugs, the cocaine bricks stood out for another reason. Their branding.

Each carefully packaged kilo of cocaine bore the image of a South American revolutionary version of Hello Kitty.

No, this wasn’t an attempt to appeal to a new segment of drug users, the Che Guevara drug running animated Japanese kitten cross-over market. The branding is used by the head of a vicious Columbian drug cartel, Juan Carlos Ramirez Adabia, aka Chupeta (lollipop).

Don’t let the curious nickname and cartoon figure normally associated with 12 year old girls fool you. Adabia is one of the youngest members of the Cali cartel and was so powerful he successfully ran his drug smuggling operation from the inside of a Brazilian prison for 6 years, before being released early for good behavior.

Juan Adabia directs his men by emailing images of Hello Kitty with instructions embedded in the jpeg file. The United States DEA was able to break the code, leading to the disruption of his cartel and second arrest in 2007.

Adabia is currently in prison and awaiting extradition to the United States. The capture of such a large volume of cocaine bearing his marking suggests that his operation is still running strong.

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Hello Kitty used as drug lord’s messenger (AFP)

Dan golpe al Golfo en Guatemala (EFE)