Swallowed drugs lands passenger in court

This is a joint AFP and Customs media release

A 48-year-old Australian man will face Sydney Central Local Court today after the Australian Federal Police (AFP) charged him with attempting to import heroin at Sydney International Airport.

Customs officers stopped the man from Yagoona in Sydney’s south west for a baggage examination after he arrived on a flight from Vietnam on Monday, 28 April.

During questioning, officers became suspicious that the man was concealing drugs internally and referred him to the Australian Federal Police (AFP).

The man was taken for a medical examination which showed he was carrying a number of foreign objects in his stomach.

It will be alleged in court that he passed a total of 59 packages weighing approximately 325 grams and which preliminary testing showed contained a powder that tested positive to the presence of heroin.

Further forensic testing will confirm the drug's purity.

The AFP charged the man with the importation of a marketable quantity of a border-controlled drug under Section 307.2 of the Commonwealth Criminal Code Act 1995.

The maximum penalty for this offence is 25 years imprisonment and/or a $550,000 fine.