A surprising incident has been reported by doctors from North Shore Medical Center Salem Hospital as they removed 27 bags of heroin through a surgical operation on a 51-year-old man, Miguel Rodriguez. The operation was conducted under police observation. The bags weighing nearly 6 ounces were removed from patient’s stomach, intestine and rectum.

The police came to know about the presence of drug bags from the hospital staff. Rodriguez came complaining about his sickness after eating lobster. But he showed signs of opioid intoxication, so the staff gave him Narcan, to which the patient responded. Later, the patient confessed that he had just returned from the Dominican Republic, where he had swallowed bags of heroin.

The hospital staff immediately informed about the incident to police. Two policemen wearing sanitation suits witnessed the operation from 6:12 to 6:50 p.m., watching doctors remove bags of cocaine and heroin from Rodriguez’s body. Doctors removed 163.4 grams of heroin with a street value of $16,000.

“The bottom line is that this is a person who is bringing the drug into the country and this is the drug that is killing our people. The quantity that he had inside of him came to the weight level that exceeded the trafficking qualifications”, said Salem police Capt. Conrad Prosniewski.

Police then obtained a search warrant and took the drugs from the hospital’s pathology department. Salem is suffering from opioid crisis. This year, 29 overdose cases associated with drugs have been reported in Salem and three of them were fatal.