Colombian police officer in hospital after swallowing extorted banknotes
A Colombian police officer has been admitted to hospital after swallowing a wad of banknotes he extorted from a businessman.
The officer had demanded payments in return for not arresting his victim on trumped-up charges – but did not know that the businessman had already reported the shakedown to Colombia’s anti-kidnapping and extortion unit.
When anti-corruption investigators arrived the officer gobbled up the cash in the hope of erasing the evidence but quickly realised he had bitten off more than he could chew when the notes got lodged in his throat, blocking his airways and sending him to an emergency clinic.
Videos showed the grey-faced officer pleading his innocence while in a police van after he had swallowed the nine notes in Soacha, a sprawling suburb on the edge of the capital, Bogotá.
“I have received nothing, absolutely nothing, I don’t know what they are talking about,” the officer can be heard saying while recoiling and gasping for breath.
“We’ll have to take him to hospital to get him cleaned,” one anti-corruption officer can be heard saying, as he gives the choking officer medical attention.
Doctors managed to remove the notes – which amounted to 500,000 pesos (£95) – and the officer was hospitalised to treat his stomach.
“The material with which the bills are made is a strong material, it is paper money and it is not easily digested,” the director of the local attorney’s office told local reporters.
The brazen corruption case has become the subject of a series of Simpsons-related memes mocking the policeman’s desperate attempt to escape justice.
Corruption is pervasive among Colombia’s police and the clip seemed to offer schadenfraude to many who themselves have been obliged to hand over cash to men in uniform.
“It’s basically another income for them – their overtime – so it’s a bit of a relief to see them face justice,” said Camilo López, who runs a small business in Bogotá which is often squeezed for cash by corrupt officers.
The officer and a colleague had used false allegations of sexual crime to pressure the business owner into handing over a total of 2m pesos, Bogotá’s Blu Radio reports.
The business owner managed to scrape together half of the funds but the policeman was unsatisfied so took him to a police station where he was held for two hours in the hope of extorting the full amount.
The two officers are now themselves the subject of a criminal investigation, according to the local prosecutor.