A smuggler risked a deadly overdose when he attempted to smuggle 27 bags of heroin from the Dominican Republic. The bags of drugs were surgically removed from 51-year-old Miguel Rodriguez’s stomach, intestine and rectum at a hospital in Salem, Mass. Police in sanitation suits observed the operation and counted each bag as it was removed.
Rodriguez reported to the hospital complaining about feeling sick after eating lobster. When he showed signs of opioid intoxication, hospital staff gave him Narcan, an overdose drug. Rodriguez improved after receiving the medication, at which time he admitted having just returned from the Dominican Republic, where he had swallowed bags of heroin. Hospital staff reported Rodriguez to police.
After being surgically removed from Rodriguez the drugs were taken to the hospital’s pathology department. Police then obtained a search warrant and confiscated the drugs.
The heroin removed from Rodriguez was measured at 163.4 grams, worth $16,000 on the street.
Rodriguez pleaded not guilty to charges of heroin trafficking on Thursday. As of Friday he was still recovering from surgery in the hospital. He is being held on $500,000 bail after a hospital bed arraignment.
Salem has been experiencing an opioid crisis, with 29 overdoses already in 2016, three of which were fatal. Salem police Capt. Conrad Prosniewski said “We’re fighting this on all fronts as much as we can.”
Prosniewski also said, “The bottom line is that this is a person who is bringing the drug into the country and this is the drug that is killing our people. The quantity that he had inside of him came to the weight level that exceeded the trafficking qualifications.”