Authorities in Mauritius are holding a Ugandan national who swallowed heroin, an addictive and dangerous drug worth Shs 530 million to smuggle it into the country using his body as a vehicle.
Daniel Goevins Ongaya, a 40-year-old was arrested at Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport in Mauritius.
He had swallowed fifty-four pellets of heroin, weighing seven hundred and fifty-two grams, before boarding a plane to Mauritius on Monday, May 9. The market value of this drug is Rs 11 280 000 (Ugshs 530 million).
It is by flight KQ 270 of Kenyan Airways that the smuggler disembarked at the airport in the evening of Monday May 9.
After a profiling by elements of the Customs Anti-Narcotics Section (Cans) of the Mauritius Revenue Authority and those of Anti-Drug and Smuggling Unit (Adsu), his luggage was searched. However, no drugs were found. The suspect was subjected to a full body scan.
Foreign bodies were detected in his intestines. Daniel Ongaya was interrogated and had to confess to having swallowed heroin pellets before taking the plane.
Police seized his possession a sum of 1,500 U.S. dollars, a cell phone, three sim cards and two memory cards which are suspected to have been used in connection with this drug trafficking.
The suspect was taken to Jawaharlall Nehru Hospital in Rose-Belle where he was admitted under laxative treatment. He served a total of fifty-four heroin pellets. Since he did not cooperate no controlled delivery operation could be set up.
Daniel Ongaya left the hospital in the afternoon of Thursday May 19th. On Friday, May 20, he was brought before the court in Mahebourg. He is facing a provisional charge of drug trafficking.
The suspect, who is on his first visit to Mauritius, was supposed to stay in a boarding school in Mahebourg. He was scheduled to leave the country on Friday, May 20. He celebrated his 40th birthday on May 15 while in hospital and under police surveillance.
He is not the first Uganda to be arrested under similar circumstances in Mauritius. On May 6, two Ugandan couriers were arrested at the same airport carrying a total of one hundred and ninety pellets of heroin, that is 1994 grams of this drug. The market value of the drug is Rs 29,910,00 (Ugshs 140 million).