A 42-year-old Ghanaian businessman who swallowed 49 pellets of cocaine wrapped in condoms, in an attempt to traffic them to Europe has died at the 37 Military hospital.

Samuel Anum Borketey, who was resident in Spain, complained of stomach ache last March 26, while going through departure formalities at the Kotoka International Airport, on his way to Spain via Amsterdam.

He was rushed to the Aviation Clinic and later to the 37 Military hospital where he died 24 hours later. A post mortem last Wednesday led to the retrieval of 41 pellets of the parcels and eight burst condoms, indicating that eight of the parcels burst inside the victim.

Sources at the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB) said Borketey might have survived, if he had confessed earlier. The deceased however missed the earlier opportunity because when he was asked whether he had swallowed any substances, he allegedly denied and rather requested for food with the explanation that he had not taken any food.

When his condition worsened, Borketey, who was travelling with a Ghanaian passport issued in Paris, was said to have told interrogators that he had swallowed 10 pellets of narcotics substances. The source said just when the doctors were preparing to take him to the theatre to remove the pellets, he died.