Pathologist cautions drug smugglers who swallow wrappers of cocaine

Accra, Aug. 28, GNA - A top pathologist on Monday cautioned drug couriers that abdominal chemicals could burst wrappers of cocaine they swallowed with fatal consequences.

Agents of drug barons should, therefore, be wary of the risk involved when they swallowed cocaine to beat immigration checks, Professor Yao Tettey, Head of Pathology Department of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital said.

Prof. Tettey gave the advice in Accra when he appeared before the Georgina Wood Committee investigating drug related cases that has rocked the country.

He gave evidence on what happened at the autopsies on bodies of people suspected to have died of swallowing narcotic substances. According to Prof. Tettey, requests for the examination were at the instance of either a District Magistrate or District Tribunal Chairman. The requests were on suspicion that the person had probably swallowed some narcotics, but there were occasional histories that were not related to the administration of drugs.

In both cases, the examiner usually retrieved large wrappers of cocaine, numbering between 30 and 100 in the stomach and intestines of the body.

In some cases some of the wrappers of the cocaine were burst. Prof. Tettey said it was often detected that the person had died of overdose of or poisoning from the narcotic material. The material was then handed over to the Police, with a request to the Ghana Standards Board to be specific on what substance had killed the person.

Prof. Tettey said the Police, in most cases, did not report back on what happened to the retrieved pellets to the Pathology Department. The Professor said there had been voluntary confessors, who usually reported to the Police, but they died because they came too late. Such confessors were people, who suffered mostly in hotels and the ports, because of delayed flights. He said post-mortems of such cases were mandatory coroner's cases.

Prof. E. K. Wiredu, Consultant Pathologist and Head of School of Allied Health Sciences of the University of Ghana Medical School, accompanied Prof. Tettey. hb