X-ray reveals ‘cocaine bullets’ found in stomach of woman detained at airport

A woman arrested at one of South Africa’s busiest airports has been accused of being a “drug mule” after X-rays revealed dozens of pellets, which police believe were cocaine, lodged in her stomach.

The unnamed 30-year-old Namibian woman was detained and arrested at OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg after police received a tip-off that she was attempting to smuggle drugs on a flight from Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Officers arrested her on Sunday as she walked through the airport.

According to police, this is the tenth suspected drug smuggler arrested at the same airport in the past two months, after a Nigerian was arrested last week on similar charges.

After her arrest, the woman was taken to a local hospital, where an x-ray revealed objects in her stomach that she had probably swallowed.

Under police guard, she “fired” 68 “bullets”, probably containing cocaine – weighing a total of about 850 grams, South African police said.

“Our men and women in blue are hard at work catching hardened criminals. South Africa is not a playground for criminals and transnational organised crime. We squeeze the space for criminals and leave nothing to chance,” said the National Commissioner of the South African Police Service, General Fannie Masemola.

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The woman is due to appear in court on September 25, accused of drug trafficking and drug possession.