Police arrest man with drug-stuffed condoms

 The drug-filled condom that was vomited by a man who was arrested for drug
 trafficking at Entebbe airport at the weekend.

In Summary

The Guinean national, who is suspected to have swallowed at least 27 drug-stuffed condoms, only managed to vomit out one.

Entebbe 

Although condoms were designed for protection against the spread of sexually transmitted diseases and help prevent unwanted pregnancies, drug barons have found another use for them.

To them, the rubber item can act as an alternative container to carry their lucrative illicit narcotics.
One such case was discovered at the weekend when police officers at Entebbe airport arrested a man suspected to have swallowed at least 27 male condoms stuffed with liquid narcotic drugs.

The Guinean national was intercepted at around 8:45am upon his arrival at the airport. “We subjected him to a vomiting routine check, and he brought out one condom,” Mr Tinka Zarugaba, the Entebbe crime investigations boss, said.

He noted that the suspect was weak, probably as a result of the condoms stuffed in his stomach and he was taken to Entebbe Hospital to consult medical personnel on how to induce him and remove the remaining condoms from his body.

Mr Zarugaba said as soon as all the substances are released from his body, the suspect would be charged with being in possession of narcotics. He added that the suspect pleaded for mercy, saying it was his first time to carry drugs into the country. His flight records showed that he had left Panama to Uganda, and that the police were investigating him for possible connections to individuals in Kampala.

The police have for long decried the old law on narcotics under the National Drug Policy Act, where all cases of drug trafficking are categorised under being in possession of drugs. The charges attract a maximum punishment of a fine not exceeding Shs1 million, imprisonment for not more than four months or caution, all of which police find light.

The police want Parliament to expedite the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotrophics Control Bill 2007 that attracts a maximum punishment of imprisonment for not more than five years or a fine not less than Shs1 million as a way of curbing drug trafficking in Uganda.