A SUSPECTED Iranian drug trafficker died after the rupture in his stomach of some of the 137 methamphetamine capsules he had swallowed, Malaysian police say.
The 52-year-old traveller was taken to a public hospital after appearing ill at the country’s low cost budget air terminal late on Thursday, local police chief Abdul Razak Abdul Majid said.
Surgeons discovered the drugs during an operation, he said.
“The Iranian was in critical condition following the surgery and died at 9.14am Friday, with initial reports indicating that some of the pills burst, which is what is believed to have made him sick and killed him,” Abdul Razak said.
“We will know more after the autopsy, but the surgeons removed 137 compressed slabs in the form of capsules, weighing 765g in total, from his stomach,” he added.
He said police were still investigating where the Iranian had flown in from, and trying to determine his identity through the Iranian embassy.
Iran’s ambassador in Kuala Lumpur has said international crime gangs are using Iranians to smuggle drugs into Malaysia. There was a steep increase last year in the number of Iranian suspected drug traffickers caught in the country, with 138 arrested from January to October last year compared with 16 detained in 2009.
Police have said that many of the drugs are destined for export to China, the Philippines and other neighbouring countries.
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