Mangalore: 29 Gold capsules extracted from the stomach of the smuggler.

Mangalore: 29 Gold capsules extracted from the stomach of the smuggler.

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangalore, Feb 7, 2014 : 29 Gold capsules extracted from the stomach of a man on February 7, 2013, who was admitted in a Mangalore hospital two days back. After an agonizing wait of over 48 hours, wannabe smuggler Shashidharan was finally able to rid his body of the rich haul of gold that he had been illegally harbouring in the stomach.

It is reported that doctors at KMC Hospital in the city today successfully removed 29 capsules from his stomach through colonoscopy. Shashidharan, who hails from Kanhangad in Kasargod district, had earlier swallowed an unspecified number of solid gold capsules in a bid to avoid getting detected by customs officials at Mangalore International Airport.  The capsules said to be weighing around 350 grams.

Perhaps the most valuable passenger on board that day, Shashidharan arrived at Mangalore from Dubai on Feb 5 and managed to get past the customs as planned. However his ingenious plot began to fall apart when even after taking powerful laxatives, his body refused to part with the precious cargo. To make matters worse, he started to feel excruciating pain in the bowels and had no choice but to admit to a hospital and make a clean breast of his misadventure to the doctors.

After administering laxatives and enema, the doctors were hopeful that the contraband would be ejected from the body naturally. But when this failed to happen, they decided to wait no longer and resorted to colonoscopy for removing the gold. 

Police and customs officials have launched suo moto investigations after the hospital reported the matter to them.  It is not known officials of which of the two departments are keen to ‘handle’ the valuable haul now that they know the reality of its transit route from Dubai to Mangalore.  

Shashidharan wanted to make some quick money and agreed to undergo the plan of the smugglers. He had gone to Gulf seeking better prospects but could not earn or save enough to take care of his family burden. The smugglers offered him two lakhs for the delivery of the Gold in Kerala.  However, the plan misfired and landed him in more trouble than he had imagined.