Heroin ‘Body Packer'-A Case Report

Body packing refers to the internal concealment of drugs within the gastrointestinal tract or other orifices. People who do this are called Body Packers. The Body Packer Syndrome is accidental and unintentional poisoning with illicit drugs in persons, who attempt to transport drugs illegally across national borders by packing them in plastic packets, ingesting them or inserting them in body orifices, and then subsequently retrieving them in a foreign country, thus safely bypassing custom authorities.

In the present case, a 19 years old male from Afganistan suddenly lost consciousness during flight from Kabul to Delhi. CT Scan done in hospital showed multiple foreign bodies in the gastrointestinal tract. He expired in the hospital after 11 days. Autopsy was conducted in the Safdarjung hospital, New Delhi. A total of 80 heroin capsules were recovered from his body-19 capsules during the course of treatment in the hospital and 61 capsules during autopsy. Some of these capsules were ruptured and some were intact.