Two female drug mules from Guinea have been caught smuggling 130 pellets of cocaine weighing 2,080 grammes worth a total of about 6.8 million patacas (US$850,000) as they entered Macau via the airport, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Chan Wun Man said during a special press conference yesterday.
According to Chan, the police recently received a tip-off about international drug traffickers trying to smuggle drugs while various local governments are busy fighting against the COVID-19 virus epidemic, but the relevant modi operandi and routes of smuggling have been changed, so the police have also changed their strategy and reinforced their investigations on the arrival of flights from certain countries.
The police noticed two female passengers arriving at the local airport from Bangkok early yesterday morning acting suspiciously. Both were told to be X-rayed, which showed a large number of objects in the shape of “goose eggs” which they had swallowed.
The two women, a 27-year-old surnamed Diallo and a 24-year-old surnamed Fofana, were questioned and both admitted that they had swallowed drugs. They were taken to the public Conde de S. Januário Hospital Centre where it took 18 hours for the women to excrete 54 and 76 pellets of cocaine respectively, totalling 2,080 grammes, with a street value of 6.8 million patacas.
The spokesman said that the women said they were facing financial difficulties and agreed to work for a drug trafficking racket, and that the gang bought them tickets to fly from Guinea to Ethiopia, where they swallowed the drugs in a hotel, and then on to Macau via Bangkok. They were told to wait for a member of the gang to contact them to give them instructions of what to do next.
The spokesman said that the two suspects were paid an initial US$1,800 and were promised an additional US$4,000 when the job was done.
The suspects have been transferred to the Public Prosecution Office (MP) and face charges of trafficking narcotics and psychotropic substances.
Evidence seized from the suspects such as pellets of cocaine and US dollar notes are displayed during yesterday’s special press conference about the case at the pressroom of the Judiciary Police (PJ) headquarters. Photo: Iong Tat Choi
