A 29-year-old Nigerian man with Italian nationality has been arrested at Punta Cana International Airport in the Dominican Republic for allegedly attempting to smuggle narcotics to Paris, France by ingesting them.
According to a statement from the Directorate, the suspect was apprehended in the terminal’s boarding area after security protocols detected foreign bodies in his digestive system. He was immediately transferred to a local health center where doctors extracted 72 pellets from his stomach, believed to contain cocaine.
The seized substance weighs approximately 1.361 kilograms (2.99 pounds). The Dominican Public Prosecutor’s Office and the National Directorate for Drug Control (DNCD) have launched an investigation to determine if others were involved in this international drug trafficking operation.
The suspect is currently being held for further legal proceedings in the La Altagracia province. Meanwhile, the 72 pellets have been sent to the National Institute of Forensic Sciences (INACIF) for analysis to confirm the substance’s composition.
