X-ray showing cocaine packets in drug mule's intestines

When Armando Gonzalez was arrested last week for placing a hidden camera in a Chula Vista border patrol station restroom, authorities thought they had nabbed a garden variety pervert. They certainly didn’t believe his story: that he suspected his coworkers of illegal drug use, and was seeking to gather evidence against them.

They got this much right: Gonzalez was lying about what he was doing. But not by much. Documents obtained by SD on the QT in exchange for racy pictures taken at last year’s Logrollapalooza festival in Rancho Santa Fe show that Gonzalez was actually contracted by the FBI to plant the camera as part of a new surveillance program.

“The use of human drug mules is an increasingly common method of smuggling controlled substances over the border,” reads the preliminary objective statement for Operation Golden Nugget. “These mules may carry as many as sixty balloons or hard plastic containers filled with cocaine or heroin inside their bodies. Our research indicates that, due to both the danger of rupture and the extreme discomfort, many of these mules seek to excrete the packets as soon as possible after entering the country — possibly in the restrooms controlled by the Border Patrol itself. Hidden cameras could provide inexpensive but invaluable evidence in the battle against illegal drug importation. It’s a dirty job, but somebody’s got to watch it.”