Senegalese Drug Baron From Nigeria Arrested 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 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.

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

According to 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.