Drug trafficking similar to Suriya movie 'Ayan'; Brazilian couple arrested with drug pills worth crores in their stomachs

NEDUMBASSERY: A Brazilian couple who tried to smuggle drugs worth crores in pill form by swallowing them were arrested at the Kochi airport. Luca De Silva and his wife Bruna Gabriela were taken into custody by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI).

They arrived in Kochi from Sao Paulo, Brazil via Dubai at 8.45 am on Saturday. The check conducted based on a tip-off did not find anything suspicious. They were then taken to a private hospital in Angamaly for scanning. Objects in the form of capsules were found in their stomachs. About 70 capsules were taken out till Saturday evening. Efforts are on to bring out the rest. It is suspected that these are cocaine or heroin. This is worth crores. The capsules were made of a special type of plastic paper. The couple's plan was to reach Thiruvananthapuram from Nedumbassery. Details of the hotel booking have been found. The plan was to hand over the drugs to middlemen here. IT experts are examining the phone details and other data of the accused to find the middlemen.

A Tanzanian man was caught at the Kochi airport in June last year, after trying to smuggle cocaine worth Rs 19 crore in a similar way.

Dangerous 'body packing'

Body packing and body stuffing are methods of smuggling drugs inside the body. This is an extremely dangerous method. If the capsules burst in the stomach, death is certain. More goods can be swallowed and smuggled this way than through secret passages. This is detected through CT, ultrasound and X-ray examinations. The swallowed substances are removed by enema and other means.