A 30-year-old Namibian female drug mule was taken into custody by Gauteng police at OR Tambo International Airport.
An anonymous tip led to the arrest.
An arrival of a drug mule from Sao Paulo was planned for Monday at around 7.25am, to which the police and intelligence services responded.
Athlenda Mathe, a spokesperson for the National Police, said that the team apprehended the suspect as soon as she was passing through the airport’s immigration checkpoints.
“She was immediately arrested and taken to a local hospital, where a medical X-ray confirmed and detected foreign objects in her stomach,” Mathe said.
“The process to release the suspected drugs from her body is underway.
“She has already released more than 60 bullets of suspected cocaine thus far. She is currently under police guard and custody.
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“The value of the drugs cannot be determined at this stage, as the process to release all suspected drugs from the suspect’s body may take some time.”
Ten drug mules, among them the Namibian woman, have been apprehended at OR Tambo International Airport in the last two months.
Last week, the police detained a drug mule from Nigeria after the seizure of cocaine valued at R12-million.
The man was travelling to Nigeria after landing from São Paulo when he ran into a cleaner at the airport, and he gave him aeroplane headphones.
According to Mathe, when police opened the aeroplane headphones because they had a suspicion that something was not right, they discovered cocaine hidden inside.
“The drug mule who claims he is a street vendor in Nigeria claims he was in Brazil to buy clothes and shoes, which he sells in his home country.
“Police are investigating this aspect to prove that this may be used as a decoy by this drug trafficker.
“The cleaner, who noticed that police were hot on his heels, evaded arrest.”
