[Sportschosun reporter Jang Jong-ho] It was belatedly reported that a Thai woman was caught at an airport while trying to enter Taiwan after swallowing 72 drug capsules.
The total weight was 289.1 grams, and investigators said it was worth about 3.6 million New Taiwan dollars, or roughly 160 million won, on the local market.
According to ETtoday and other Taiwanese media, investigators detained a 35-year-old Thai woman at Kaohsiung International Airport on April 6 this year. She was reportedly working as a Muay Thai instructor in Thailand.
After receiving information about an international drug-smuggling case, investigators launched a joint operation with customs, airport police, and immigration authorities. They identified the woman at the airport and questioned her.
She was taken to a hospital for an X-ray, which revealed multiple oval-shaped foreign objects in her abdomen and digestive tract. Investigators later confirmed that the objects were capsules containing drugs.
According to investigators, the drugs had been wrapped in multiple layers using condoms and special film. She was believed to have swallowed the capsules in an attempt to evade airport screening and drug-sniffing dogs.
However, this kind of body concealment is extremely dangerous and can directly threaten the carrier's life.
If the packaging inside the body is damaged or the drugs leak out, a large amount of narcotic substance can be absorbed into the body all at once. That can lead to severe poisoning, breathing difficulties, and other fatal complications.
To ensure that all capsules were expelled, investigators kept the woman under hospital supervision for about 10 days. With medical assistance, the capsules were allowed to pass naturally, and officers checked each expelled item one by one as evidence.
Investigators reportedly recovered the capsules from her stool, washed them, took photographs, and weighed them as part of the evidence-gathering process. It took a full 10 days to recover all 72 capsules.
The drugs seized in the case totaled 289.1 grams. Local media estimated their value at about 3.6 million New Taiwan dollars.
Jang Jong-ho, bellho@sportschosun.com
This article has been translated by GripLabs Mingo AI.
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