Silk Road forums
Discussion => Shipping => Topic started by: yaosh on February 01, 2012, 08:36 am
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Just to explain a little bit here, digital radiography allows some things you may not be aware of. When the x-ray photons leave the tube, they go through aluminum filters and other types to remove the weak particles. The remaining stronger particles impact the target and depending on the density of the material, some are absorbed, some pass through, and some collide and send off the other electron flying, and most travel in the direction of the image receptor which lies on the other side of the target.
The image receptor in digital screening units is normally a CCD array which gives raw values for how many photons struck which pixels over a certain duration, this is then used to form an image on screen. By adjusting the dynamic range of the rendered image, even miniscule differences in density can be detected. You can put a pill under a steel plate, and if the equipment doesn't suck and the operator knows what they are doing, you will see a little darker circle in a dark box which looks like a pill under a steel plate :p if it is a deeply scored pill or has a deep enough impression, even that can show up on screen. Your little hello kitty pills will look just like that.
Now, most operators are braindead from scanning all fucking day like a radioactive zombie, and some equipment was bought many years ago and upgrading without the return on investment from the original machine is unjustifiable to people without a radiation physics background (suits with checkbooks) so they end up old, miscalibrated, and shitty. Don't count on that, but keep in mind the thing being detected is the change in density along the beam path, it isn't a fucking camera, the beam passes through the object, it does not reflect off of it and cannot be reflected. Taping 1g of MDMA to the front of a CD is going to be obvious, but blotter sheet cut to the size of the front sleeve wont be, get it? Parcels need to be disguised, to blend in to the shape and density of surrounding or expected objects. Attempting to mask them with solid objects does nothing, you have to camouflage the shape, break up the outline, so it doesn't look like "Ok the declaration says cookies, and I see a tin of cookies, but there's a big square thing in the middle". Rather, you could buy assorted cookies of many shapes, vacuum seal the product not in a rectangle, but by distributing it in a cookie-like shape then evacuating the air. Now replace another cookie with it so (if they are stacked in a pattern, as is typical) you don't have one stack more dense than the others, and viola.
I know lots of people say "x-rays can't see through <whatever item>" but that simply isn't the case. When x-raying a pipe weld on an oil rig, you're looking for microscopic cracks in something of unbelievable thickness and density, and they still show up. Decent diagnostic systems in hospitals can detect even glass shards in the palm of a hand, and even with their really low power output they can blast through a 250kg fatass and still see some lung detail.
SUMMARY (for the lazy): X-ray will see through anything, but it only shows density changes and shapes. Use packing of varied density, which looks uneven already on screen. Camouflage your items, don't try to mask them. If they're 6mm tablets, pack them in bottles of legit 6mm tablets and declare tablets. If it's powder, don't vacuum pack it in a fucking brick, toss it in a bubble mailer and declare "legal papers"... If you are sending a package likely to be x-rayed, think about this, they have tons running through the scanner and will only stop one if it looks suspicious (or gets randomly chosen).
This is why arms smugglers will disassemble weapons and ship them in crates of other machine parts. How many GED-holding x-ray guys know what an AR15 trigger groups looks like by itself? How many could pick one out of a box of random metal objects on x-ray?
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The next time I have access to a fluoroscope, I will take digital radiographs of common packaging techniques and show you what they look like.
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The next time I have access to a fluoroscope, I will take digital radiographs of common packaging techniques and show you what they look like.
TIA! 8)
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Extremely interesting post, TC! I wasn't aware that it all worked this way, but it makes a lot of sense now that you've explained it. Do you know what countries make use of these products, though?
The next time I have access to a fluoroscope, I will take digital radiographs of common packaging techniques and show you what they look like.
That would be really awesome!
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this is a really great post. this is why i always hide pills in a bottle of similarly shaped pills.
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wow, very cool post
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Yaosh is 100% legit in what they're talking about, I have similar background I bet just using different rays
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Wow, thanks guys, I'm glad you found it useful. I'm just surprised that this wasn't more well known. Maybe we can get it stickied?
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cant wait to get the follow up on this ... thanks for the info yaosh
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Wow, thanks guys, I'm glad you found it useful. I'm just surprised that this wasn't more well known. Maybe we can get it stickied?
SR doesn't seem to have many stickies, it would probably be better suited to a page in the wiki
http://dkn255hz262ypmii.onion/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
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bump
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Wow, thanks guys, I'm glad you found it useful. I'm just surprised that this wasn't more well known. Maybe we can get it stickied?
Should be stickied. I eagerly await the pictures :).
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Very informative!
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Very cool read, definitely something that should get passed around. Its the right mix of ingenuity, common sense, and knowledge on the subject matter to really shore up SR's security / reduce detection.
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If it's powder, don't vacuum pack it in a fucking brick, toss it in a bubble mailer and declare "legal papers"...
What exactly is being suggested here?
If I toss powder into a bubble mail loose it should tend to clump in the edges and produce an uneven density, plus the lack of vacuum sealing should cause an odor to be emitted, no?
If I wrap powder up and then vac. seal and chuck it into a bubble mailer then it will not look like legal papers or anything legit, no?
If I spread powder thinly over cellophane and then press another layer of cellophane on top and then laminate, is this likely to be detected, either by dogs or your x-ray machines?
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That should work as long as it is a pretty even distribution which won't look odd. Using two thin spacers of equal diameter or thickness placed on either side of the sheet, and a straight edged item dragged across the top to create an even layer may help. A moderate stack of papers on either side of this false sheet would prevent feeling anything unusual, throw some paper clips on some sections to break up the even profile for snake cam and xray inspection, causing breaks between pages and air infiltration. Should look normal enough to pass routine checks, but if it alerts a dog due to permeation, they may open it up.