Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Annals of The Royal College of Surgeons of England logoLink to Annals of The Royal College of Surgeons of England
. 2002 Jan;84(1):35–38.

The outcome of drug smuggling by 'body packers'--the British experience.

N Bulstrode 1, F Banks 1, S Shrotria 1
PMCID: PMC2503744  PMID: 11890624

Abstract

Body packing or internal concealment used by drug dealers to smuggle illicit substances, puts the body packer at risk of both imprisonment and death. We report our experience over a 4 year period from January 1996 to December 1999 of suspects presenting to our hospital (the largest series in Europe). A total of 572 cases were assessed radiographically and 180 were shown to be carrying foreign bodies. The commonest reasons for admission were suspected overdose or gastrointestinal obstruction. Thirty-six cases were admitted, of whom 7 required surgical intervention. No deaths occurred. Of all people detained for smuggling by internal concealment into Britain during this period, 27% were seen in our hospital. These cases may present alone or escorted by Her Majesty's Customs and Excise personnel, and one must be aware of this possibility even when situated away from a port of entry.

Full text

PDF
35

Images in this article

37Figure 1
on p.37

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Aldrighetti L., Paganelli M., Giacomelli M., Villa G., Ferla G. Conservative management of cocaine-packet ingestion: experience in Milan, the main Italian smuggling center of South American cocaine. Panminerva Med. 1996 Jun;38(2):111–116. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Caruana D. S., Weinbach B., Goerg D., Gardner L. B. Cocaine-packet ingestion. Diagnosis, management, and natural history. Ann Intern Med. 1984 Jan;100(1):73–74. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-100-1-73. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Cobaugh D. J., Schneider S. M., Benitez J. G., Donahoe M. P. Cocaine balloon aspiration: successful removal with bronchoscopy. Am J Emerg Med. 1997 Sep;15(5):544–546. doi: 10.1016/s0735-6757(97)90207-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Gherardi R. K., Baud F. J., Leporc P., Marc B., Dupeyron J. P., Diamant-Berger O. Detection of drugs in the urine of body-packers. Lancet. 1988 May 14;1(8594):1076–1078. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(88)91897-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Hoffman R. S., Smilkstein M. J., Goldfrank L. R. Whole bowel irrigation and the cocaine body-packer: a new approach to a common problem. Am J Emerg Med. 1990 Nov;8(6):523–527. doi: 10.1016/0735-6757(90)90155-s. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Introna F., Jr, Smialek J. E. The "mini-packer" syndrome. Fatal ingestion of drug containers in Baltimore, Maryland. Am J Forensic Med Pathol. 1989 Mar;10(1):21–24. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Joynt B. P., Mikhael N. Z. Sudden death of a heroin body packer. J Anal Toxicol. 1985 Sep-Oct;9(5):238–240. doi: 10.1093/jat/9.5.238. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Lancashire M. J., Legg P. K., Lowe M., Davidson S. M., Ellis B. W. Surgical aspects of international drug smuggling. Br Med J (Clin Res Ed) 1988 Apr 9;296(6628):1035–1037. doi: 10.1136/bmj.296.6628.1035. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. McCarron M. M., Wood J. D. The cocaine 'body packer' syndrome. Diagnosis and treatment. JAMA. 1983 Sep 16;250(11):1417–1420. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Mebane C., DeVito J. J. Cocain intoxication: a unique case. J Fla Med Assoc. 1975 Feb;62(2):19–20. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Miller J. S., Hendren S. K., Liscum K. R. Giant gastric ulcer in a body packer. J Trauma. 1998 Sep;45(3):617–619. doi: 10.1097/00005373-199809000-00037. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Nihira M., Hayashida M., Ohno Y., Inuzuka S., Yokota H., Yamamoto Y. Urinalysis of body packers in Japan. J Anal Toxicol. 1998 Jan-Feb;22(1):61–65. doi: 10.1093/jat/22.1.61. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Stewart A., Heaton N. D., Hogbin B. Body packing--a case report and review of the literature. Postgrad Med J. 1990 Aug;66(778):659–661. doi: 10.1136/pgmj.66.778.659. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Suarez C. A., Arango A., Lester J. L., 3rd Cocaine-codom ingestion. Surgical treatment. JAMA. 1977 Sep 26;238(13):1391–1392. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Visser L., Stricker B., Hoogendoorn M., Vinks A. Do not give paraffin to packers. Lancet. 1998 Oct 24;352(9137):1352–1352. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(98)08302-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. al-Attia H. M., al Murawy M., Hareb A., Gattee O. B. Acute abdominal pain in a young man. Postgrad Med J. 1997 Oct;73(864):667–669. doi: 10.1136/pgmj.73.864.667. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Annals of The Royal College of Surgeons of England are provided here courtesy of The Royal College of Surgeons of England

RESOURCES