General News of Friday, 15 December 2006

Source: Expatica News + ANP

32 'drug smugglers' arrested on one flight

... 28 Nigerians & 1 Ghanaian
AMSTERDAM — Military police at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam have arrested 32 suspected drug smugglers on one flight.

The suspects were on board a flight from Casablanca in Morocco to Schiphol on Sunday, it was revealed on Friday.

The suspects were allegedly carrying swallowed balls of drugs in their stomach.

These types of suspects are referred to in Dutch as 'bolletjesslikkers' (ball swallowers).

A military police spokesman said it was an "exceptionally" large number of suspects.

Military police search all passengers on flights coming from 'risk areas', but conducted a targeted operation on the Morocco flight after suspicions were triggered.

Some 28 of the suspects were Nigerian. The others came from the US, Ghana and Liberia.

The military police spokesman said drug smugglers are seeking new drug routes to evade the 100 percent inspections on flights from the Caribbean area.