Woman sets new drug-smuggling record - caught with 180 packs of heroin in stomach

A woman has set a new drug-smuggling record after swallowing 180 pellets filled with heroin.

Bola Adebisi, 52, downed almost 5lbs of the killer drug before trying to get into the United States, authorities say.

Suspicions were aroused when she told airport staff that she had flown in to visit her brother but could not describe him or give his address.

A routine pat-down by customs officials at Dulles International Airport in Washington then found her stomach to be abnormally rigid and an X-ray is said to have revealed the stash, estimated to be worth £100,000.

It's reported the Nigerian was taken to hospital and kept there until doctors confirmed she had passed all of the thumb-sized packs.

Christopher Hess, director of Customs and Border Patrol for Washington DC, said: "The amount of pellets and heroin this woman allegedly ingested is incredible, a serious health risk and very troubling if these numbers become the new norm."

Adebisi had arrived on a flight from Ethiopia which also stopped in Rome.

Dulles' previous record for heroin ­swallowed was 100 pellets, about 4lbs, by another Nigerian, a 46-year-old man who was caught last year.

Adebisi has been charged with drug-smuggling.