AIRPORT COCAINE COURIERS RISK LIVES

Nine In Hospital Recently After Ingesting Drugs

A Whitby man nearly died and eight other people wound up in hospital in
recent weeks after being caught smuggling illegal drugs into Canada in
their stomachs.

They were among at least 40 drug swallowers arrested after flying into
Pearson International Airport this year, nine since mid August.

Another passenger could have been in similar medical and legal trouble had
he or she not decided at the last moment not to swallow the drugs, Canada
Customs officials say.

Maintenance workers found 19 grams of heroin valued at an estimated $74,000
inside a latex glove that had clogged a toilet on an aircraft arriving from
Amsterdam on Sept. 16.

"Customs and the RCMP believe that a passenger may have decided not to
swallow the drugs and disposed of them in the aircraft toilet," Canada
Customs spokesperson Duncan Smith said.

Swallowers often cut off the fingers of rubber gloves, stuff them with
narcotics, tie off the tips and swallow them.

Doing so puts the smuggler's life in jeopardy.

The Whitby man, who had to be revived twice, was among seven taken to
hospital since mid August. The seven had collectively swallowed cocaine
valued at $500,000, Smith said.

The man, 28, arriving from Jamaica with a 27 year old Oshawa woman, started
shaking violently while being questioned by customs officers.

"He suddenly displayed symptoms associated with drug packets bursting
inside the body and was rushed to Etobicoke General's emergency room,"
Smith said. He spent several days in intensive care.

Smith said the man had ingested 360 grams of cocaine, valued at about
$74,000 on the street. His companion swallowed 100 grams of hashish valued
at $2,000 and had inserted 1 kilogram of cocaine valued at $200,000 in her
vagina.