Five held after swallowing drugs

FIVE people on a flight from Malaga to Dublin were caught having swallowed cannabis in a bid to smuggle it into the country — part of a growing trend of ‘swallowers’ caught at the country’s largest airport.

Sgt Martin Halpin of Dublin Airport Gardaí said the five arrests made just before Christmas brought the annual tally of importations to 38 — a slight increase on last year’s total figure, with a week to go to year end.

In addition, one-third of the 38 people caught trying to smuggle drugs through Dublin Airport were ‘swallowers’ — again an increase on the comparable figure for last year. Unusually, the number of people swallowing cannabis is increasing while the numbers swallowing bags of cocaine is falling.