New Delhi, Apr 1 (Agencies) : Anti-narcotics sleuths have arrested a South African for smuggling in over a kilogram of cocaine by swallowing 65 pellets of the banned narcotics.

The estimated market value of the fine quality party drug is Rs 6.5 crore.

Investigators had to force the 42-year-old man, identified as Bobby Collins Anagar, to undergo an X-ray and a CT scan and subsequently pass stools over a period of 48 hours.

“Anagar was intercepted when he arrived at the Indira Gandhi International Airport from Sao Paulo, Brazil, on March 29. His personal and baggage search did not reveal anything but his continuous refusal to eat or drink indicated he was carrying the drugs inside his body,” Narcotics Control Bureau’s (NCB) Zonal Director Rohit Sharma said.

NCB sleuths later brought Anagar to Safdarjung Hospital where doctors put him on medical aid after his body scan revealed he had numerous oval-shaped pellets inside him. “For two days, doctors and NCB sleuths waited for him to pass normal stools as a forced ejection could lead to rupture of the pellets inside the body thereby killing the person who has swallowed them,” sources said.

Anagar excreted 65 pellets of 4-5cms which had cocaine inside it, neatly concealed in cellophane coverings. The total volume of the banned drug is 1.3-kg and this is very rare that a human courier could swallow such a large amount of drug capsules, they said.
“Anagar was later arrested under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS),” they said. NCB officials said professional swallowers or packers are known to ingest powdered drugs encapsulated in cellophane coverings, latex, balloons and condoms which help them evade detection by law enforcement agencies at international ports.

“Some other traffickers, called stuffers, prefer to put the contraband in body cavities. Cocaine and heroin are the two most commonly trafficked drugs this way,” they said.

Investigators are probing the potential consumer(s) and sender(s) of the drug Anagar had brought in. On March 24, NCB had arrested two young South African women and a Ghana national here who were allegedly smuggling in the same drug through the air route from Brazil. Cocaine is abused largely in rave parties and in student get-togethers in the country.