The 21-year-old autopsy revealed that the capsules inside him contained 1,200 grams of cocaine.
Authorities started searching for the three men who had brought the young Colombian to the hospital in Santo Domingo de la Calzada. Their investigation also revealed that the deceased had been recruited to work as a drug mule in his country.
The three suspects allegedly traveled on April 24 to the Adolfo Suarez Madrid-Barajas airport to pick up the young man and intended to drive him to Vitoria, where they planned to extract the drug capsules and distribute the cocaine.
On their way, they stopped in the town of Santurde to rest when the "carrier" unexpectedly began to feel ill. The men took his documents and left him at the health center of Santo Domingo de la Calzada.
After establishing the deceased's full identity, investigators were able to trace his journey from Colombia to Spain, as well as the vehicle that was used to bring him from the Madrid airport.
It was determined that the drugs were meant for the Basque Country, specifically the town of Vitoria, where two of the individuals who had abandoned the "carrier" were found hiding.
According to an interview with a human trafficking survivor published by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, "many victims of human trafficking are used to ferry drugs across international borders. Popularly known as 'drug mules,' the victims are made to swallow balloons containing illicit drugs and are then transported across borders. Once they have reached their destination, these balloons are retrieved from the victims' bodies."
