/ 27 August 2000

POLICE WAIT FOR SUSPECT TO PASS EVIDENCE

SOUTH A BOLIVIAN man arrested this week for drug smuggling has passed 20 of the “cocaine bullets” detected in his stomach, but police suspect the 31-year-old man has at least another 60 of the foreign objects in his stomach. The Bolivian apparently swallowed up to 80 condoms filled with cocaine before attempting to pass through customs. Police will only be able to establish the value of the drugs once the man has finished supplying the evidence, which will be sent for forensic testing. The man’s life could be endangered should any of the condoms burst in his stomach. He was arrested at Johannesburg International Airport on Thursday after police received a tip-off. Police found nothing when they searched the man’s luggage, but the objects in his stomach were detected by x-ray. He is due to appear in the Kempton Park Magistrate’s Court once he has passed all the “bullets”.

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