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Delivery Apps Are Turning Gig Workers Into Drug Mules in Argentina
There, they can be hired to transport anything — including illegal drugs — and poorly enforced laws leave them responsible
When Javier Rojas’ phone buzzed with an order for a packet of tablets this past July, nothing seemed amiss at first. In Argentina, delivery apps Glovo and Rappi allow users to send and receive all kinds of things, and couriers like Rojas are accustomed to delivering takeaways, documents, and forgotten keys across the city. But when they say you can order anything, that —in practice—can really mean anything, as Rojas would find out.
The address was a regular house, but alarm bells rang as soon as he saw the package. It was supposed to be a box of Berocca vitamin supplements, but the box was battered and old, and he could feel there were no tablets inside. It also reeked of cannabis.
He stopped his motorbike five blocks away and messaged Glovo support to ask what he should do. At first, they asked how he knew what he was carrying. When he told them he’d opened it, the support desk called him and told him to take the box back to the dealer. “I was like, am I going to say to him, ‘Hey, mate, here’s your weed — I’m not delivering it for you’?” he says. “He’s gonna shoot me. He’s gonna…
