'Mule' has 152+ coke bullets
2004-12-08 15:42
Cape Town - A Peruvian woman drug mule who had a whopping 152 cocaine bullets surgically removed from her stomach remained under police guard in a local hospital on Wednesday, Western Cape police said.
"This is the most, so far, found in a single person. The previous highest was 127 [bullets]," said superintendent Riaan Pool.
He said the 33-year-old woman was arrested on Monday allegedly trying to smuggle the drugs through Cape Town International Airport.
Pool said that after the woman was arrested, she was taken to a hospital where X-rays revealed the swallowed contraband.
"Up to now we have extracted 152 cocaine bullets from her stomach [and are] still busy with the process of bullet extraction," said Pool.
He said since the beginning of June this year cocaine with a street value of approximately R3.2m had been confiscated from drug mules trying to enter the airport, excluding the Peruvian haul.
Since June this year, four South Africans, three Ecuadorians, and two Peruvian citizens were arrested at Cape Town's main airport while trying to smuggle cocaine into the country from South America.
In two instances the cocaine was hidden either in luggage or on the person, while the remained were swallowed bullets.
Pool said after further investigations by organised crime detectives, another four Nigerian citizens were arrested for being involved with, and assisted suspects in two of the incidents.
Thus far a total of 661 cocaine filled bullets weighing 6.5kg, along with 4.4kg of cocaine hidden either in luggage or on the person were recovered.
- SAPA