Two Tanzanians morgue employees were arrested in Dar es Salaam after they admitted to cutting open a man’s corpse and stealing drugs in his stomach.
In a statement, local police official, Simon Sirro, said the two admitted to cutting open the body a week ago to take drugs from the dead man who had died of an overdose.
The officer added that drug traffickers regularly employ drug “mules” to transport merchandise by stuffing the drugs in small airtight bags which are then swallowed or inserted in someone’s stomach.
He said that, in the case of the dead man, his stomach acid ate the bags and caused the overdose.
The man, a Ghanaian national, was found dead at a hotel in Dar es Salaam and was taken to a morgue at Mwananyamala hospital were the two employees work.
Mr. Sirro further said that the two morgue workers admitted to selling the 32 drug capsules to unidentified businessman, who in turn sold the drugs to Ally Nyundo, a suspected drug trafficker.
Africa's east coast has long been used as a transit point for drugs bound for Asia and Europe.