Imaging of drug mules

Area of Science:

• Radiology
• Forensic Imaging
• Toxicology

Background:

• Body packing and stuffing are methods of drug concealment.
• Commonly smuggled drugs include cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, and hashish.
• Internal drug concealment poses significant risks to individuals.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review the imaging features of internally concealed drugs.
• To evaluate the effectiveness of different imaging modalities.
• To highlight key radiological signs indicative of drug concealment.

Main Methods:

• Plain radiography as the primary imaging modality.
• Low-dose computed tomography (CT) for enhanced detection.
• Analysis of characteristic imaging signs.

Main Results:

• Plain radiography shows 85-90% sensitivity for detecting concealed drugs.
• Key radiographic signs include opacities in the bowel, air crescents, double condom sign, halo sign, parallelism sign, and tic-tac sign.
• Low-dose CT is accurate and noninvasive for locating internal drug packages.

Conclusions:

• Radiography and CT are crucial for diagnosing internal drug concealment.
• Familiarity with specific imaging signs aids in detection.
• Low-dose CT offers an efficient and accurate alternative for all concealment types.