Knocked up then locked up: Woman is caught smuggling drugs in fake baby bump
The 27-year-old suspect was arrested on board a bus in the city of Cali after police discovered that she was wearing a latex belly, in which they found her to be hiding up to 5,600 individual doses of cocaine.
The unnamed woman is said to have travelled from Narino in south-west Colombia and had been passing through Cali to reach the capital, Bogota, when she was intercepted by police.
According to Colombian authorities, the sophisticated prosthetic bellies are purchased abroad by drug trafficking networks.
Warning of the fake pregnancy tactic, Cali Police Commander Brigadier General Carlos Oviedo said in a statement: 'These types of garments are used as costume accessories or disguises to simulate pregnancies.
'Drug trafficking networks are purchasing them abroad for approximately [£590].
'Once they arrive in the country, criminals replace the material of the fake gestational sac with illegal drugs and contact human couriers to arrange for the shipments to different cities in our country', he added.
She had up to 5,600 individual doses of cocaine inside her latex belly
Another official involved in the investigation told local press: 'This is a concerning new tactic.'
'These false bellies are not just props - they're part of a calculated effort to exploit human empathy and avoid suspicion.'
Investigators are now working to determine whether the suspect is part of a larger network operating along high-traffic routes between Narino and Bogota.
This is not the first time Colombian drug mules have been busted hiding narcotics in fake baby bumps.
Back in 2022, five women were arrested after cops caught one of them concealing cocaine in a fake belly.
Agents spotted that the woman was pretending to be pregnant while passing through security at Ernesto Cortissoz International Airport in the coastal city of Barranquilla.
The woman, who was traveling with the rest of the suspects to Bogota, was pulled aside for a secondary inspection.
Airport police detected several plastic wrapped bundles of the Type A party drug wrapped around her abdomen and placed her under arrest.
Subsequently, the flight was temporarily grounded at the gate, allowing officers to search her four female companions, who also had the cocaine packages over their bellies.
At least one of the women went inside the airplane's bathroom and removed three cocaine bundles before she was also busted.
In all, authorities were able to seize 14 bundles of cocaine and confiscated an unknown amount of psychedelic drugs that Contreras was in possession of.
Cocaine production in Colombia has been rising since 2013, according to the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime.
A report published in October by the international organization found that the cultivation of coca bushes increased by 10 percent in Colombia in 2023, while potential cocaine production increased 53% from the previous year.
While a 2016 peace agreement with the FARC rebels aimed to curb coca cultivation in rural areas, smaller armed groups have filled the power vacuum, actively promoting the lucrative cocaine trade.
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