Colombian arrested at Dar airport hiding cocaine in underwear

Dar es Salaam. A Colombian citizen, Mr Andres Felipe Balesteros Uribe, 28, was yesterday detained at the Julius Nyerere International Airport (JNIA) after he was caught with 13 packets of cocaine in his underpants.

While in police hands, the suspect released from his bowels 6  more packets of the narcotics in plastic wrappers. Police also discovered other drugs hidden in an interweaved polyethylene tubes wrapped around his waist.

The suspect had just disembarked from an Ethiopian Airline flight at 2am when officers from the anti-drugs unit suspected arrested him.

This is the first case of a drug mule getting arrested in Tanzania airport with drugs concealed in the pants. Drug mules are becoming more and more innovative in concealing their haul following heightened security checks in airports and other entry points in the country.    

Hardly a week passes nowadays without an arrest of suspected drug traffickers in Tanzanian airports.

The head of Anti-Drugs Unit (ADU), Mr Godfrey Nzowa (pictured), said a network of local and international agencies has been on the trail of the Colombian suspect at the source country until he was arrested at JNIA. He holds a Colombian passport issued a week ago.

Mr Nzowa said the suspect had not been ‘very cooperative’ and had not responded to questioning by yesterday noon. Police had a difficult time extracting a statement from the suspect who speaks Spanish.

The drugs will be taken to the government’s Chief Chemist to verify their weight and quality. The suspect will appear in court soon, according to Mr Nzowa.