FreedThe Judiciary Police (PJ) busted a 44-year-old woman from Tanzania on Tuesday at the Outer Harbour Ferry Terminal for smuggling 958 grammes of cocaine worth about 3.1 million patacas inside her body.
PJ spokesman Choi Iat Peng told a special press conference Thursday that the police received a tip-off recently that someone would smuggle drugs into Macau. PJ officers began investigating and ascertained that the person would arrive in Macau from the Philippines. The female suspect entered the city on Monday afternoon and checked into a hotel in the city centre.
She left the hotel the following morning and headed to the Outer Harbour Ferry Terminal. Investigators stopped her, gave her an X-ray scan and detected something suspicious in her body.
She was taken in for questioning and she confessed that she swallowed over 60 pellets of cocaine. She also told police that she was promised US$3,000 if she successfully smuggled the drugs to their final destination.
Investigators took the suspect to the Conde de S. Januario Hospital Centre, where she excreted the pellets.
Choi said police believed that the woman swallowed the drugs in the Philippines and was on her way to Hong Kong when she was arrested.
However, Choi said that Hong Kong may not have been her final destination, pointing out that the police were still investigating the case. The suspect will be transferred to the Public Prosecution Office (MP) for possible arraignment on drug smuggling charges.
Tanzanian drug smugglers have been caught in Macau before. (macaunews/macaupost)
