Are terminally ill patients used as drug mules?

Investigators believe it is the new technique to smuggle drugs, as two addicts arrested at airport suffer from AIDS and Tuberculosis

Investigators believe it is the new technique to smuggle drugs, as two addicts arrested at airport suffer from AIDS and Tuberculosis

August 26: A Zambian man, Gideon Mwale Holding, was arrested with 400 gm of heroin in his baggage

September 1: A Nigerian woman, Pumila Carline, is arrested at Mumbai airport with 980 grams of cocaine capsules in her stomach
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While the above-mentioned incidents aren't related, both drug runners are suffering from terminal diseases.

The 32-year-old Nigerian woman is an AIDS and TB patient, while the Zambian is HIV positive, according to a source.

Strategy: Sources indicate drug mafia brainwashes addicts with money and lures them to take any risks.

This has investigators strongly believing that the drug mafia has adopted a new technique to smuggle drugs. "It looks like the drug mafia has targeted ill patients to transport drugs.
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It's likely that such people are easily brainwashed for money and then willing to take the risk," said a source.

Baljeet Singh Nunwal, additional commissioner, Air Intelligence Unit (AIU), said, "The woman has been admitted to J J Hospital. I cannot comment on her illness, as one last capsule is still stuck in her duodenum."
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It's the AIU's job to act on information and intercept suspicious passengers. According to Nunwal, the Zambian is in jail.

Drug Route

Pumila Carline was smuggling drugs from Sao Paulo in Brazil via Dubai to Mumbai. She has been arrested under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985.

Gideon Mwale Holding was on his way to Lusaka, capital of Zambia, from Mumbai and preparing to board an Ethiopian flight, but was arrested by the AIU.