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'Drug Mule' Passes $86K Worth Of Heroin After Arrest At PHL

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - A man was arrested at Philadelphia International Airport after investigators say he had $86,000 worth of heroin concealed inside his body.

Clement Agbapu, of Nigeria, was arrested February 19 after he passed 67 thumb-sized pellets of heroin weighing about 2 pounds, 11 ounces.

Agbapu arrived from Nigeria at about 2:30 p.m. Friday after a short layover in the United Kingdom. A Customs and Border Protection officer referred Agbapu to a secondary interview.

During the interview, CBP officers detected inconsistencies in Agbapu's answers to routine questioning. Officers then discovered Agbapu's stomach to be bloated. Agbapu then consented to an x-ray at a local hospital.

The x-ray confirmed the presence of anomalies, and by 9:45 a.m. Saturday, Agbapu passed 67 thumb-sized pellets that field-tested positive for heroin.

CBP officers then turned the 36-year-old Agbapu, and the heroin, which has an estimated street value of about $86,000, over to Pennsylvania State Police.

"It is hugely satisfying when that training results in the prosecution of an alleged heroin smuggler and the destruction of his deadly poison," said Allan Martocci, CBP Port Director for the Area Port of Philadelphia.

Ingesting narcotics is perhaps the deadliest narcotics concealment method. Internal carriers are known to die a very painful death when pellets have breached inside their intestines.

"Narcotics networks consider mules to be nothing more than disposable lives. They care less about the person than they do their deadly poison," Martocci said.

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