Injured Smuggler Betrayed by Tell-Tale X-Ray

The stocky Colombian man of about 30 did not look much different from the other air crash victims at North Shore University Hospital as Dr. Robert J. Ward prepared to operate on him early Friday morning.

Like other passengers of Avianca Flight 52, the man had suffered severe internal bleeding and numerous broken bones. But as the surgeon prepared to treat the intestinal wounds, he discovered round shadows shaped like suppositories on X-rays of the man’s digestive system.

Before operating, Ward asked the still conscious man about the contents of the what seemed to be small packages. The man confirmed what Ward already suspected--the packages were actually neatly tied latex condoms that contained cocaine.

“We noticed that his intestines were filled with golf-ball sized packages, from his large intestine to his rectum.” Ward said. “We asked him what it was because it could possibly contaminate his system. He told us it was cocaine.”

Eventually, Ward would pull four condoms from the unidentified man’s rectum. As of late Friday, about 10 more condoms remained inside the man’s intestines. In all, Ward estimated that the man carried more than a pound of the white powdery substance in his digestive tract.

(According to the Los Angeles Police Department, a pound of cocaine would have a street value of about $170,000.)

Ward said that the remaining condoms were not removed to “let nature pass its course.” Because of the effects of the operation, the condoms may not pass through his digestive tract for weeks, Ward said. If one of the packets leaks or bursts during that period the patient would be in serious danger of dying from cocaine poisoning. However, it was considered too dangerous to remove the packets now.

Hospital officials said the air crash victim likely ingested the cocaine-filled condoms before boarding the Avianca flight in Colombia. “They were fairly professionally packaged,” Ward said, adding that the man probably used enemas to clean out his colon before swallowing the condoms.

The man was out of surgery late Friday afternoon and was expected to live, hospital officials said.

The four packages were handed over to Nassau County police, hospital officials said.

Drug Enforcement Administration officials confirmed that the white substance found in the condoms was cocaine. They also said that earlier reports claiming two other passengers who died in the crash were also smuggling cocaine were incorrect.

DEA spokeswoman Mary Cooper said drug smugglers often try to conceal up to a pound of cocaine in condoms, by swallowing and then excreting it, or concealing it in body orifices.

“There have been instances where we have arrested people and then waited at a hospital for them to excrete (the bags),” Cooper said.