Namibian woman arrested at OR Tambo airport after swallowing dozens of bags of drugs

A 30-year-old woman was arrested at OR Tambo International Airport on Sunday after dozens of small bags of drugs were found in her stomach.

The Namibian woman was caught after getting off a flight from Sau Paolo, Brazil.

Namibian woman caught with drugs in stomach

The police, Sars and immigration officials were looking out for the suspected drug mule after receiving intelligence from the South African Police Service (Saps).

“The team immediately intercepted the drug mule as she was making her way through immigration,” said police spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe.

“She was immediately arrested, taken to a local hospital where a medical X-ray confirmed and detected foreign objects in her stomach.”

Mathe said the woman is the tenth drug mule to be arrested at OR Tambo International Airport in the past two months.

By Sunday evening, Mathe said the suspect had released more than 60 bullets of drugs, which is suspected to be cocaine.

“The value of the drugs cannot be determined at this stage as the process to release all suspected drugs from the suspect’s body may take some time,” she said.

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Police Commissioner General Fannie Masemola praised the law enforcement team for its “vigilance” and warned that police are clamping down on organised crime in South Africa.

“Our men and women in blue are hard at work intercepting hardened criminals. South Africa is not a playground for criminals and transnational organised crime. We are squeezing the space for criminals and leaving nothing to chance,” said Masemola.

Nigerian arrested after drugs found in headphones

The latest arrest comes days after a Nigerian drug mule was caught at the same airport.

After landing in Johannesburg from São Paulo on 13 September 2024, the man handed an airport cleaner a pair of airline headphones.

Police then pounced on the pair.

“Suspecting that there was something amiss, the team opened the aircraft headphones and found cocaine stashed in the headphones,” said Mathe.

“The drug mule who claims he is a street vendor in Nigeria claims he was in Brazil to buy clothes and shoes which he sells in his home country – police are investigating this aspect – to prove that this may be used as a decoy by this drug trafficker.”

The cleaner managed to evade arrest.

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