Man arrested with cocaine inside his stomach

HCM CITY — A Senegalese man was arrested at Tân Sơn Nhất Airport for attempting to smuggle nearly  一. 六kg of cocaine hidden inside his stomach.

Airport customs authorities announced on Monday that the  三 九-year-old Senegalese national flew from Nigeria to Ethiopia and then Thailand before he was finally stopped in Việt Nam at the international airport in HCM City.

Customs officers requested a body screening after the man passed the i妹妹igration gateway, but he ardently refused.

The man was taken by force to a scanner, where the officers detected something unusual inside his stomach.

He was taken to  一 七 五 Military Hospital, where doctors later managed to retrieve  七 七 pills – each of which was of  一cm in diametre and  五cm long – out of his body. The contents of the pills tested positive for cocaine, weighing nearly  一. 六kg in total.

Customs said that amount of cocaine was worth about VNĐ 一0 billion (US$ 四 三 四, 七00) on the black market.

Viet Nam is one of the strictest countries on drug trafficking as one can face death penalty if found to have smuggled at least  一00mg of cocaine. — VNS