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The General Customs of the Republic of Cuba detected a passenger on Saturday who arrived at the José Martí International Airport in Havana on a flight from Panama with 25 capsules of drugs ingested in their body.
The case was announced on X by Wiliam Pérez González, Colonel and First Deputy Chief of the General Customs of the Republic, who emphasized “the effectiveness in the analysis and risk management efforts carried out by the Customs of Cuba and the anti-drug agency.”
The images published alongside the announcement show the yellow latex capsules extracted from the traveler's body, as well as an abdominal X-ray that reveals the presence of foreign objects inside.
The official statement did not specify the type of drug contained in the capsules or the nationality of the detained passenger.
The technique used, known as "body packing" or human couriering, involves ingesting capsules containing narcotics—typically wrapped in latex—to transport them concealed within the body and evade conventional customs controls. Detection is carried out through abdominal X-rays.
This case adds to a series of similar detections recorded at the same airport over the past few months. On May 3, 2026, Pérez González himself announced the arrest of a passenger with 48 cocaine capsules ingested at José Martí.
In August 2025, a Colombian citizen was arrested with 23 cocaine capsules in her stomach at the same airport, and in July of that year, at least two additional cases of passengers with narcotics hidden in their bodies were reported.
Similarly, in November 2025, authorities also caught a passenger heading to Panama who was carrying marijuana and hashish, which demonstrates that the route between the two countries operates in both directions.
The connection with Panama is not coincidental: that country is recognized as one of the main corridors for drug trafficking in the region, with 43 tons of drugs seized so far in 2026.
In 2024, Cuban authorities seized a total of 1,051 kilograms of drugs, primarily cocaine, marijuana, methamphetamine, and cannabinoids, according to data published in early 2025.
In December 2018, Cuban authorities dismantled four networks serving Mexican drug traffickers that operated with mules on the island, offering payments of up to $75,000 per traveler, highlighting the economic scale of this type of trafficking.
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