An airport X-ray has exposed a woman who had swallowed dozens of “cocaine bullets”. The 30 year old, whose identity remains undisclosed, was apprehended upon her arrival at OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg.
This followed a tip-off to the police about a drug carrier on a flight from Sao Paulo, Brazil.
The authorities managed to recover over 60 of these “cocaine bullets” after an X-ray revealed their presence in the woman’s stomach. National police spokesperson, Brig Athlenda Mathe, explained: “The team immediately intercepted the drug mule as she was making her way through immigration. She was immediately arrested, taken to a local hospital where a medical X-ray confirmed and detected foreign objects in her stomach. She has already released more than 60 bullets of suspected cocaine thus far. She is currently under police guard and custody.”
Mathe further added that the value of the drugs could not be determined yet as the process to release all suspected drugs from the suspect’s body may take some time.
General Fannie Masemola, the national commissioner of South African Police Service, lauded the efforts of the authorities in their fight against criminal activities at OR Tambo International Airport. He stated: “Our men and women in blue are hard at work intercepting hardened criminals. South Africa is not a playground for criminals and transnational organised crime. We are squeezing the space for criminals and leaving nothing to chance,”, reports the Mirror.
In the last two months, drugs worth over £560,000 have been seized at the airport. Just last week, a man was apprehended with 450 grams of cocaine concealed within headphones after his journey from Sao Paulo.
He was set to board a connecting flight to Nigeria when a cleaner, who is believed to have given him the headphones at the airport, hastily departed the scene, police reports suggest.
In a separate incident, a South African woman was intercepted at the same airport ahead of her “forthcoming wedding” in Brazil.
Captain Lloyd Ramovha, Gauteng provincial spokesperson for the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, stated: “The Germiston-based Hawks’ serious organised crime investigation team swooped on the unsuspecting 33 year old traveller at OR Tambo International Airport on Tuesday August 27 morning.”
“A search of her luggage revealed the consignment of narcotics, which was confirmed to be 10 kilogrammes of cocaine. They were approached and brought in for questioning at the police station. They claimed that they were waiting for a traveller from elsewhere, but they could not provide proof thereof,” Ramovha added.
“It was eventually determined that they were actually awaiting the arrival of the arrested drug mule originating from Motherwell in Port Elizabeth,” he concluded.
