Man arrested at Dubai airport for smuggling 2kg of heroin in his stomach

DUBAI // A man has been arrested for trying to smuggle more than 2 kilograms of heroin in his stomach.

The African swallowed 125 capsules containing 2,177 grams of the drug.

He was arrested at Dubai International Airport off a flight from Sao Paulo, Brazil.

The man had been behaving suspiciously as he passed through Terminal 3 and showed signs of “confusion and discomfort” as he headed towards customs control, said Ali Al Maqhawi, director of airport operations at Dubai Customs.

“Customs control was then focused on the suspected passenger until he reached the inspection point,” Mr Al Maqhawi said.

“But nothing prohibited was found inside his bags when passed through the scanning device or during manual inspection.

“The increasing signs of unrest on the passenger’s face, however, called for exposing him to high-tech body-scan machines, which detected some murky items in his guts suspected to be narcotic substances.”

The man told officers he was to deliver the drugs to another person for an undisclosed sum of money.

“The higher efficiency enjoyed by Dubai Customs inspectors and their experience in body language as well as knowledge of potential methods of smuggling contributed to detecting these drugs carried by the passenger inside his guts, and saving youths from using them,” Mr Al Maqhawi said.

The case has been passed on to the Anti-Drug General Administration.

jbell@thenational.ae