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If I had to guess I’d say the “narco phones” were plants running government software.

That's ALWAYS the first question in my mind when I read these types of articles about container shipping and drugs: "Who snitched?"

Corrupt cops pay off the high level traffickers to get the occasional tip off, take out a few annoying lower level idiots they’re sick of dealing with.

Also undercover agents, but they’re only picking off these intermediaries too, not the manufacturers.

Where do the corrupt cops get enough money to pay them off?

Presumably the high level traffickers have orders of magnitude more money than the cops.

Very likely the police have someone inside who had knowledge of the operation.