Judiciary Police (PJ) officers have caught another drug swallower from Tanzania on suspicion of trying to smuggle cocaine via Macau into the mainland, this time swallowing 1.091 kg of the drug with an estimated street price of roughly HK$900,000.
In a press conference held at the PJ headquarters on Saturday, a PJ spokesperson said that PJ officers found the 37-year-old suspect, surnamed Kileo, acting suspiciously on Tuesday at about 11:30 a.m. in the airport’s luggage collection area.
They stopped the suspect and put him through an X-ray scanner where officers saw something suspicious in his stomach.
He was taken to the public Conde de Sao Januario Hospital Centre for medical examination where it was confirmed that the suspect had swallowed 83 pellets of cocaine, after taking three days to excrete all of the drugs.
According to the spokesperson cited by The Macau Post Daily, the suspect told police that he was recruited by an international criminal organisation in his hometown earlier this month.
He first boarded a flight to Ethiopia and from there to Thailand where he swallowed the drugs. He then flew on to Macau with Guangzhou as his final destination where it was planned he would meet up with members of the racket.
The spokesperson said the suspect would be sent to the Public Prosecution Office (MP) on possible arraignment on drug charges, adding the suspect told police that he was paid US$7,000 to smuggle the cocaine.
This is the second case in two weeks in which a drug swallower from Tanzania has been caught by local police. The other suspect from the southeast African country was also busted by police at the local airport after arriving from Thailand on July 10. That suspect also told authorities that he was recruited to smuggle cocaine using the same route with the same final destination.
The spokesperson said that officers were now investigating the two cases to see if the suspects were recruited by the same gang.(macaunews)
