Senegalese drug trafficker from Nigeria arrested in Vietnam, faces death sentence

The 77 cocaine capsules removed from the stomach of the Senegalese

File: Nwankwo ingested 67 cocaine wraps before leaving Brazil to London in February.

The 77 cocaine capsules removed from the stomach of the Senegalese in Vietnam

Customs officers in Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City have arrested a yet-to-be identified Senegalese who swallowed 77 capsules of cocaine with the aim of smuggling them into into the country.

According to Vietnam News Agency in a report on Monday, the capsules weighing 1.6kg have a street value of $430,000 or 10 billion VND.

The 39 year-old man flew for about 50 hours from Nigeria to Ethiopia and Thailand before entering Vietnam via Tan Son Nhat international airport in the city.

He was apprehended after he completed immigration procedures at the Ho Chi Minh City airport. Officers first stopped him for a check, but the Senegalese refused to cooperate and resisted so aggressively. He was then arrested by force.

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Results of a full body screening revealed multiple cylindrical objects in his stomach.

Doctors at Vietnamese Military Hospital 175 retrieved from the Senegalese stomach the capsules measuring 5 centimetres in length and 1 centimetre in diameter.

According to the Vietnamese law, those convicted of smuggling over 600 grams of heroin or more than 2.5 kg of methamphetamine are punishable by death.

Making or trading 100 grams of heroin or 300 grams of other illegal drugs is also punishable by death.

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