Bahrain: Man jailed 15 years for smuggling heroin capsules
Attempting to smuggle 50 heroin-filled capsules by swallowing them before boarding a plane to Bahrain landed a man in a Bahraini jail for 15 years.
The High Criminal Court passed this judgement in a case involving a suspect in his twenties.
He was arrested at the Bahrain International Airport after customers officers subjected him to further examinations on the red lane after stoking suspicion of abnormal behaviour.
After spotting this man, we removed him to the red lane for a detailed examination.
“We also gave him a chance to confess before going ahead. “However, he stood his ground and denied having anything illegal with him. “We also failed to spot any hidden spaces or anything illegal from this baggage after an intensive search.
“However, the man showed severe physical discomfort, which made us subject him to a medical examination. “An x-ray scanned, however, told a different story. The scan revealed that the suspect was carrying drug capsules in his abdomen.
“Doctors at the Salmaniya Medical Complex counted 50 capsules inside his stomach. They also gave him laxatives to help the capsules pass through his body. Later, during an interrogation, the suspect confessed to working as a drug mule.
“A friend of mine promised me a job if I bring these capsules here.” Police continued their investigation and found that the arrested man was a member of a drug smuggling network. How smugglers risk their lives?
Experts at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime point out that this is a dangerous way of smuggling drugs. Popularly known as ‘drug mules’, the victims swallow balloons containing illicit drugs and travel across borders.
Once they ‘reach’ their destination, traffickers retrieve these balloons from their bodies. The balloons are of multilayered condoms that are often force-fed to the victim. The traffickers use a ‘special machine’ to open the condom and put drugs into it. UN points out that on many occasions, the drug mules first take a soup laced with drugs to numb their throats.
The soup is very oily and makes the balloons slide down their throat. The victim’s mouth can also be sprayed with anaesthesia, enabling them to swallow up to 120 balloons. A drug mule may swallow up to one kg of illicit drugs. This painful procedure can lead to ‘serious injuries in the throat’.
During the journey, they take medication to inhibit bowel movement. After reaching the destination, laxatives are fed for the balloons to pass through their bodies. This medically dangerous way of transporting drugs can lead to the death of persons if and when balloons rupture within the body. Stomach acids can sometimes cause the rupture of the balloons, and death is quick.
