Intercepted at the airport: Jan Dutoit, 41, dies while serving pellets of heroin

• This South African smuggler ingested 86 bags of drugs

An extraordinary tragedy occurred on Thursday June 6, 2024. Intercepted Tuesday at Plaisance airport with heroin in his stomach, Jan Dutoit, a 41-year-old South African national, died on his bed. hospital in the middle of a purge exercise. This smuggler managed to expel eighteen pellets, but one of the 68 remaining burst in his stomach before spreading throughout his system.

The autopsy carried out on Thursday by Dr Sudesh Kumar Gungadin, head of the forensic department, attributed the death to “acute cerebral edema”. The 67 heroin pellets were recovered during the post-mortem examination. His remains were placed in cold storage while awaiting repatriation procedures to be completed. The South African anti-drug brigade will be responsible for receiving Jan Dutoit's remains before handing them over to his loved ones.

The seized heroin weighs a total of approximately 860 grams. Its market value is estimated at Rs 12.9 million. The smuggler, a welder from Brakpan in South Africa, arrived in Mauritius on Tuesday on flight MK 852. He was quickly spotted by the Anti-Drug and Smuggling Unit (Adsu) during a profiling exercise. . He explained to the immigration services that he was in Mauritius for a short vacation, i.e. five days. He indicated that he already had a reservation in a hotel located in the north of the country.

The men of Chief Inspector Goinden of Adsu at the airport put him through an X-ray scanner. The examination confirmed their suspicions: he had drugs in his system. Jan Dutoit quickly admitted his crime. The suspect was immediately evacuated to a hospital where he was subjected to purge.

Pressed for questions, he admitted to having swallowed 86 pellets, each containing approximately ten grams of heroin. The extraction began at the hospital the day after his arrest. During the day of Wednesday June 5, 2024, he expelled three pellets of heroin. In the evening from Wednesday to Thursday morning, he expelled fifteen more. The other 68 were still in his body. One of them then exploded, causing the death of the forty-year-old.

Instructions from a sponsor

During his arrest, Jan Dutoit confirmed that he was a mule, maintaining that he was acting on the instructions of an individual based in South Africa. A first preliminary examination of his mobile phone, placed under seal by Adsu, yielded nothing concrete. According to the smuggler, he was to contact the sponsor who is in South Africa, once he had expelled the drug pellets. It was only then that he would have received further instructions on what to do.

Except that in the meantime, he was hospitalized for the extraction and his health deteriorated after the packaging of a pellet ruptured. The investigation is led by Chief Inspector Goinden of the airport Adsu. The operation at the airport was carried out in collaboration with the Customs Anti-Narcotics Section of the customs office.