Cocaine Smuggled In Dreadlocks Discovered By Authorities As Nobanda Nolubabalo Travels to Bangkok

In a bold move that promised to earn her the equivalent of $1,925, 23-year-old Nobanda Nolubabalo allegedly matted 1.5kg of cocaine into her dreadlocks and boarded a plane from Brazil to Bangkok, the Daily Mail reports.

Authorities in Thailand detained the South African woman today, after discovering a suspicious white substance in her hair. Following a search, the substance was determined to be cocaine, a total of 1.5kg, which was wrapped in plastic and concealed inside each lock.

Video footage at Bangkok's international Suvarnabhumi Airport, where the woman is being detained, show authorities separating the drugs from what appears to be artificial locks, tied into Nolubabalo's natural hair with yarn.

Nolubabalo arrived in Bangkok on a Qatar Airways flight from Sao Paolo, Brazil just one day after another South African citizen, 38-year-old Janice Linden, was put to death by lethal injection for trying to smuggle 3kg of crystal meth into the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou in November 2008.

Thailand has some of the toughest penalties for drug offenses in the world. In July, Thai authorities arrested an Iranian man who allegedly tried to smuggle more than 50 million baht ($1.6 million) worth of crystal methamphetamine into the country disguised as handicraft art.

Nolubabalo is reportedly the 12th South African to be caught smuggling drugs into Thailand this year.

Comments

[nikkib84]

09:17 PM on 12/16/2011

Well that was pretty stupid!

[Madame T]

08:06 PM on 12/15/2011

Unless those of you commenting on this post really know the reason being this VERY YOUNG lady's actions, please don't judge. True it was an illegal act and she knew of the consequences of getting caught, but like someone already stated, it was more likely out of desperation than anything else. Seriously, how many rich billionaires do you ever see getting caught @ the airport, instead they use the very destitute to do their dirty work for them and continue to live their lavish lifestyles without a single care in the world. In addition, unless you’ve actually walked a day in that person’s shoes…. try not to condemn anyone while sitting behind a computer screen eating bon bons!!!

[nohopepope2187]

07:30 PM on 12/15/2011

2 large for smuggling 1.5 kilos?!?! Ripped. Off.

Apparently she's doing this out of desperation and not greed. I wonder what extenuating circumstances are at work here?

[PublicCitizen21044]

04:55 PM on 12/15/2011

Look out dread locked brothers and sisters for the USA will probably go back to the captured and enslaved African days and attempt to cut off your locks if you want to travel. The white annihilation fears stoked by the 2010 census has them so disturbed they have amped up their rhetoric of hate and vitriol and have been buying and selling more guns and drugs in the Black communities so as to assist Blacks in killing other Blacks and in filling their for profit prisons. So be vigilant and do not let them dog whistle you about being a good clean cut all American citizen who looks like Barack and is obedient to the Western mans ideals and lives by his credos and remember that they arrested Ivy League Professor Gates of the African Geneology Studies Project who is assisting the Africans kidnapped and stolen from the continent and shipped to America during the African Holocaust,in his own home and it may have been due to the Reparations threat from the Africans who may or will have a claim to their reparations due to scientific evidence that shows where they came from on the motherland or African continent. The persons he has identified on his filmed series are all affluent and influential American Africans and could assist in leading the charge for reparations for the Black Holocaust aka the Trans Altlantic Slave Trade which was the foundation for the richness that is America.

[Hector Boag]

06:36 AM on 01/02/2012

Darn those pesky white folk!

[stevejf1]

05:00 PM on 03/10/2012

"the truth will set you free". Too bad you are too stupid and blind to know the truth. Your people were sold by your own people. Your people were freed by the white man. You owe us money dummy.

[pleasantlyny]

02:07 PM on 12/15/2011

Wow... so many people are happy she is going to jail... so many people want to show that they do not understand the cycle of drugs and how these "mules" get picked.....

I will say two things...1. She is obviously guilty and needs to have her day in court...
\
but for you blood thirsty so called christians remember jesus said "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy..."

[Hector Boag]

06:37 AM on 01/02/2012

What does Jesus have to do with this?

[stevejf1]

05:01 PM on 03/10/2012

Jesus has nothing to do with it, God gave us a seed that grows a beautiful green plant with vast healing properties.

[TheNewShadeofBlue]

11:59 PM on 12/14/2011

If history tells anything, the hope for life imprisonment may be futile considering how many are put to death in the East for drug offenses.

[Naevia]

10:32 PM on 12/14/2011

Absolute nonsense. I'm not even going to ask the over-played out question of "Was it worth it?" nor am I going to show this or any other person any kind of pity when it comes to smuggling drugs in and out of the country. Because obviously it wasn't worth it, since I'd rather be homeless and still have a chance to build myself back up again than risk traveling to a foreign country with the possibility of me getting killed over a game of luck. Just like the people who choose to do drugs, you're playing a nasty game of Russian Roulette and it was your own choice to pull the trigger.

[shelly65]

03:18 PM on 12/15/2011

I strongely agree with your comment Naevia. It's really sad. To be charged with such a criminal act is one thing. Another is, she's in a foreign Country and she doesn't understand the language. I pray that God will have mercy on her.

[nix28]

07:36 PM on 12/14/2011

I don't absolve her of guilt, but I wonder why she would take such a risk for such a paltry amount. From South Africa to Brazil to Bangkok and back, carrying 1.5 kilos, for about $2000? Was it really worth it? Whatever her life was like back home, was it bad enough for her to take such drastic measures?

[southflorida guy]

06:16 PM on 12/14/2011

Nice try, but YOU LOOSE. Hope you enjoy your prison time.

[James DuMouchel]

07:18 PM on 12/14/2011

Anyone who can see more than an inch deep into this situation, understands that drug prohibition causes a million more tragedies than use of drugs ever could.

[Lon Calhoun]

08:43 PM on 12/14/2011

I dont consider a drug mule getting caught a tragedy. But I do consider the thousands of addicts who's lives have been destroyed a tragedy.

[geddy lee is a god]

05:56 PM on 12/14/2011

The sad part is that whoever hired her to be a drug mule has probably already replaced her with another one. These girls are a dime a dozen to drug cartels.

[kandaharris]

03:55 PM on 12/14/2011

Why take sand to the beach! There's already enough drugs in China. Somebody else put her up to it she's a victim now they must make an example of another black girl. What a waste!!

[Lon Calhoun]

08:45 PM on 12/14/2011

A victim of her own choices.

[raysopinion]

11:27 AM on 12/16/2011

It's "Thailand" not "China".

[klwarner]

03:10 PM on 12/14/2011

So it's not really worth it then, is it? A crime they might kill her for, over two grand, what a shame.

[MyNinja]

02:55 PM on 12/14/2011

Didn't some singer cause a huge up roar recently because they searched her Afro? Well here's why.

[orbo]

01:31 PM on 12/14/2011

LOL... They finally caught her! I wonder how much coke she smuggled prior to getting caught?

[noudidnt]

04:56 PM on 12/16/2011

I guess that's one less line that's going up YOUR NOSE.

[bluecatb]

09:45 AM on 12/14/2011

I'm pissed off because she used a cultural pride in the drug trade killing our people. Pot doesn't kill not ONE death in over 3 centuries, yet these lab drugs that mood swing and mind alter while deteriorating the body like a corpse should be illegal as well as give all the hard stuff to the clinics and pharma for cheaper pain meds for patients. Seize it and use if for public health clinics to save tax dollars.