Body packing and intra-vaginal body pushing of cocaine: A case report

International Smuggling of Illicit Drugs by Body Concealment at a Tertiary Hospital in Istanbul

ABSTRACT

Smuggling of illicit substances by internal concealment has recently become a preferred method of international drug trade. The drug carriers are known as body packers. This study aimed to assess the demographic features and outcomes of body packers admitted to a referral center in Istanbul. Data were retrospectively evaluated from January 2017 to December 2019 from suspected body packers who were referred to the emergency department of a tertiary-care university by Istanbul Airport narcotics police due to suspected concealment of illicit drugs. Eighty-one cases were identified and included in this study. Of these, 71 subjects were confirmed to be body packers by radiological methods. The 15 women and 56 men had a mean age of 35 years. The most common nationality of the body packers was Nigerian, followed by Turkish and South African. Cocaine was the most commonly smuggled packet, followed by hashish, and heroin. All body packers were conservatively managed using laxatives or watchful waiting. No cases required surgical retrieval of packets. Abdominal radiography and computed tomography are useful tools for the evaluation of suspected body packers. The use of improved packaging material by smugglers and complications due to surgery and endoscopy make the conservative approach preferred.

Gastric Obstruction by Opium Packets: A Case Report

BACKGROUND

We reported a case of gastric obstruction in a body packer who swallowed a large number of opium packets.

CASE REPORT

A 36-year-old man opium addict visited the emergency department with epigastric pain for three days. He swallowed nearly 90 packets of opium for smuggling purposes four days earlier. He self-administered laxatives. In contrast, many times vomiting, he defecated only four packets and vomited one packet. The abdominal X-rays showed some amounts of fluid-air levels and multiple cylindrical opacities with the double-condom sign, corresponding to the distended stomach. Due to the worsening of his abdominal symptoms, he underwent an urgent laparotomy and 84 packets (4-6 cm in size and 8-10 g/ packet of opium) with a total weight of 870 g. They were wrapped in some layers of plastic and tied at the ends. He was discharged in stable condition.

CONCLUSION

A large number of ingested drug packets can induce gastrointestinal obstruction.

Clinical, Diagnostic, and Treatment Features of Body Packing in Brazil: Drugs, Cell Phones, and Beyond

INTRODUCTION

Body packing consists of the concealment of substances (drugs and non-narcotics) or products inside the human body with the purpose of smuggling and may represent an emergency due to the fatal risk of narcotic toxicity, intestinal obstruction, and visceral perforation. However, non-narcotic body packing, especially in developing countries, is under-evaluated. Thus, the objective of this study was to evaluate cases of body packers in Brazil as regards narcotic and non-narcotic contents.

METHODS

This retrospective study analyzes the medical records of body packers admitted from January 2015 to December 2019 at one of the main tertiary hospitals in central Brazil.

RESULTS

Ten cases of body packing were observed. We found that five patients carried drugs, while seven carried non-narcotic substances such as cell phones and accessories. All the patients were male, prisoners, and young adults. In six patients, there was gastrointestinal obstruction, and in three, there was acute narcotic intoxication. Abdominal radiography diagnosed eight of the cases. In nine of the cases, emergency laparotomy was required, but all patients successfully recovered.

CONCLUSION

There was a higher prevalence of body packing of non-narcotic content; however, diagnostic and surgical approaches were similar to those of narcotic content. Clinicians must be aware of both non-narcotic and narcotic body packing.

Drug dog affects: Accounting for the broad social, emotional and health impacts of general drug detection dog operations in Australia

BACKGROUND

Drug detection dogs are increasingly being deployed by policing agencies in Australia and elsewhere to home in on people carrying illicit drugs in a broad range of social contexts including at music festivals, on public transport and in a range of everyday urban spaces. Significant concerns have been raised about their limited deterrence and detection efficacy and tendency to increase drug-related health harms including overdose. Yet the complex ways in which these effects play out, and the broader impacts they have on social and emotional wellbeing, are not yet well documented. This study builds on a growing body of poststructural critical drug studies research to explore the complex social, emotional and health impacts of drug dog use in these broad social contexts.

METHODS

Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with 22 people who had been searched by drug detection dogs at or near music festivals and events, licensed venues and public transport spaces in Australia. Participants were asked about their experiences of being searched, how it impacted upon them in the short and long term, and how it shaped their drug use behaviours, sense of self and social relations, including relations with police.

RESULTS

This study supports previous findings that these drug dog operations do not tend to deter people from consuming illicit substances, but instead encourage a range of adaptations that increase the likelihood of health harms including overdose. The rationalities underpinning responses to drug dogs, and the impacts of those responses, are shown to be deeply spatial, temporal, social and embodied. More specifically, drug dog deployment is shown to have significant short and long term impacts on social and emotional wellbeing and can produce deep embodied trauma.

CONCLUSION

These findings suggest that the use of drug dogs in these broad social contexts is based on untenable assumptions about the rationalities of deterrence, is producing substantial harm without evidence of benefit, and should be urgently reconsidered.