Drug peddler swallows 12 cocaine capsules when nabbed by NCB

As the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) spread its dragnet in Mumbai to bust the well-oiled drug cartel, the federal anti-narcotics agency detected a new modus operandi of a courier carrying contraband in their mouth and delivering to clients.

A Nigerian national Ifeamyichukwu Pius was arrested by NCB’s Mumbai zonal unit last week, officials said on Monday.

Acting on credible human intelligence, the NCB arrested him when he was seen near a five-star hotel in Juhu area of Mumbai.

When the NCB team approached the Nigerian national to nab him with contraband, the Nigerian peddler swallowed the cocaine pellets. “The cocaine was concealed in plastic pellets weighing approx 1 gm each,” NCB's zonal director Sameer Wankhede said.

The team immediately nabbed the peddler and took him for X-Ray and CT Scan at Sir JJ Hospital.

The medical examination confirmed the existence of such pallets in his abdominal area.

Immediately he was placed under medical supervision and he subsequently purged 12 capsule/pallets each weighing around 1 gram, the officials said.

“This is the first kind of case where a peddler is carrying drugs in his mouth and distributing them. In such circumstances for law enforcement agencies, it becomes very difficult to ascertain his involvement and make instant recovery. However NCB Mumbai has developed a network of reliable informers and successfully unearthed a unique modus operandi and seized contraband,” the NCB officials said.

Further investigation is in progress to identify other associates and their clients.

In the past, there have been umpteen instances when contraband was swallowed by smugglers and later purged. However, this is for the first time, such a modus operandi has been detected when couriers are concealing the contraband in mouth and delivering to clients.