Doctors had to perform an operation on an alleged drugs smuggler to remove suspected bags of cocaine stuffed inside his body.

The 25-year-old from Hamilton Parish is still in hospital, one week after the operation last Wednesday.

And he has not yet been freed from Police custody, pending an on-going investigation by Customs officers and detectives.

Police said the suspect was stopped at Bermuda International Airport after coming off a flight from the US last Wednesday.

Customs officers immediately searched him on suspicion of carrying drugs -- and sent him to hospital for regulation X-rays in case he had swallowed narcotics.

But Police said the accused man was unable to pass the substances out of his system.

And an operation had to be performed because of the "concern of the authorities''.

A Police spokeswoman told The Royal Gazette : "There had been a joint Customs and Police operation after it was suspected that the man had ingested some `foreign objects'.

"They were not being expelled from his body and he was taken to hospital. The objects were surgically removed because of the concern of the authorities.

"All we can say at the moment is that he is a 25-year-old Hamilton Parish man who is still in hospital while the Police inquiry is continuing.'' A Customs insider said: "It was most unusual for the suspected drugs to have been removed in an operation.

"It's thought to be cocaine that he swallowed but tests are underway right now so we can be absolutely certain.

"He came off a plane from the United States but the suspect is a Bermudian and was returning to the country.'' DRUGS DGS