A Nigerian woman accused of smuggling $20,000 worth of heroin inside her body was expected to go before a federal magistrate in New York this week, police said.
A drug mule who said she was three months pregnant gave birth at Kennedy Airport — to a stash of heroin, authorities said.
Afolake Awoyemi, a Nigerian national, attracted the attention of a U.S. Customs and Border Protection inspector as soon as she waddled off Air France flight No. 6 from Paris last Wednesday.
Awoyemi, 42, wearing a “loose-fitting dress” was asked whether she was pregnant, and the woman replied that she was three months along, Homeland Security special agent John Moloney stated in a complaint filed in Brooklyn Federal Court.
The customs inspector noted that Awoyemi appeared nervous, so she was selected for a pat-down search. After feeling a “bulge” in Awoyemi’s groin area, the situation escalated to a partial strip-search, according to the complaint.
When she dropped her drawers, Awoyemi’s scheme fell apart. Pellets containing brown powder began dropping from her groin area — and the substance tested positive for heroin.
Awoyemi was taken to a medical facility at the airport, where the federal cops administered a pregnancy test that came back negative.
An X-ray showed more pellets in her intestinal tract, and by the end of the day she had passed about 25 pellets of heroin in a special commode that Customs officials have dubbed the “Drug Loo.” The high-tech toilet sanitizes the incriminating evidence.
A Homeland Security spokesman said Friday that Awoyemi was still hospitalized. She was expected to be brought before a federal magistrate Monday.
Typically, a drug swallower’s stomach may appear distended by the pellets or balloons filled with drugs. Four pellets lined end to end would measure about the size of a hot dog.
Twenty-five pellets of heroin could have a street-value of about $20,000.
Experienced drug mules have swallowed up to 200 pellets containing drugs, indicating Awoyemi may have been on a maiden voyage, the spokesman said.
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