A father of three daughters, Ebie landed in Mumbai as a trader of wigs and scarves. Instead, according to the NCB, he went over to Delhi, teamed up with another Nigerian and collected 5,000 US dollars. They bought the heroin capsules and flew back to Mumbai. Ebie was off-loaded from an Ethiopian Airlines flight on the basis of specific intelligence and kept under surveillance at the hospital until he purged out the 104 capsules, weighing more than 1 kg and estimated to be worth over Rs 1 crore in the international market. His associate has also been arrested.

NCB officials also showed off the neatly-packed red and black capsules, while admitting they stillhadn't been able to figure out the method by which the drug was squeezed into these compact units. NCB zonal manager S C Rohatgi said: ``The capsules, which are around 2 inches long, are made by compressing 10-12 gm of heroin in a condom or plastic bag, tied with dental floss. Sometimes, a double coating is used to prevent leakage or rupture. After this, the capsule is wrapped with insulation tape.''

If, however, any of the capsules leak or rupture while in the body of the swallower, it leads to heroin toxicity which brings with it abdominal pain, difficulty in breathing and even death.

Officials also said that though no study had been conducted to quantify the number of cases in which drugs had been smuggled in body parts, human carriers are the preferred mode as chances of detection are low. Most of the carriers are Africans or Nepalese and fall in the age-group of 20-45.

Rohatgi added: ``The NCB (Mumbai) has arrested 23 swallowers in the past five years, which is the highest in the country. It alsoholds the world record of arresting nine swallowers from a single flight in 1995. This year, we have apprehended three drug swallowers in five weeks.''