Doctors find rolls of cash inside suspected drug mule in Colombia

A man from Colombia was left needing surgery after he swallowed more than three dozen rolls of cash.

The 67-year-old, who was not named, was taken to doctors saying he had been suffering from vomiting and extreme constipation for more than a month.

He also revealed to the medics in Bogota, the capital, that he had ingested 30 latex-covered capsules filled with cash — of which only 20 had been expelled.

Doctors removed the packages by making a small incision in his stomach and he was discharged 18 hours later with no long-term ill effects. The money was reported as having become compact masses of paper.

The above shows the rolls of cash inside the 67-year-old’s stomach. They were removed via surgery

It was not clear why the man had swallowed the cash, but he may have been a drug mule – and responsible for getting the illegal money across borders

The man did not reveal why he had ingested the cash, although it was possible that he was a drug mule.

These are individuals that transport illegal drugs or cash across borders by hiding them in clothes, vehicles or ingesting them.

Whole regions of Colombia are also thought to be dependent on the drug trade, with the country being the largest producer of cocaine in the world — and behind more than 90 percent of the US supply.

The man was taken to hospital for treatment by the National Police of Colombia after complaining of persistent symptoms.

Upon arrival, doctors diagnosed him with pyloric stenosis — typically seen in  infants — where the valve connecting the stomach and small intestine is tightened, restricting the passage of food.

An examination using an endoscopy — putting a camera down the throat — revealed the wedges of cash in the stomach.

Doctors said the objects could not be extracted by pulling them out through the throat because they were now just compact masses of paper.

They opted instead to carry out a laparoscopic surgery to remove the objects.

In this operation, doctors create a small incision near the area affected and then remove tissues, organs or foreign objects — in this case rolls of cash.

The operation was a success and the patient was discharged 18 hours later.

It was not clear what happened to the money afterward, but the hospital reported it as being unusable.

It comes after doctors in India had to perform surgery to remove a plastic bottle from a man’s stomach.

The 55-year-old from central India’s Madhya Pradesh province had swallowed the bottle whole. 

The man came to the hospital complaining of stomach pain and doctors removed the bottle via surgery. 

The incident took place in the Chhatarpur district of the state on May 16, and it is not clear how the bottle ended up in his stomach.