A balloon swallower is an individual who crosses a border with the intent to smuggle

Smuggling

Smuggling is the clandestine transportation of goods or persons, such as out of a building, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations.There are various motivations to smuggle...

 drugs

Illegal drug trade

The illegal drug trade is a global black market, dedicated to cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of those substances which are subject to drug prohibition laws. Most jurisdictions prohibit trade, except under license, of many types of drugs by drug prohibition laws.A UN report said the...

 contained in his or her gastrointestinal tract

Gastrointestinal tract

The human gastrointestinal tract refers to the stomach and intestine, and sometimes to all the structures from the mouth to the anus. ....

 or other body cavities

Body cavity

By the broadest definition, a body cavity is any fluid-filled space in a multicellular organism. However, the term usually refers to the space located between an animal’s outer covering and the outer lining of the gut cavity, where internal organs develop...

.

This term is used in American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 law enforcement for people crossing the United States-Mexico border. Other countries have their own names.

A balloon swallower typically fills tiny balloons, often made with multilayered condom

Condom

A condom is a barrier device most commonly used during sexual intercourse to reduce the probability of pregnancy and spreading sexually transmitted diseases . It is put on a man's erect penis and physically blocks ejaculated semen from entering the body of a sexual partner...

s or more sophisticated hollow pellets

Pelletizing

Pelletizing is the process of compressing or molding a material into the shape of a pellet. A wide range of different materials are pelletized including chemicals, iron ore, animal compound feed, and more.- Pelletizing of iron ore :...

, with small quantities of a drug, usually heroin or cocaine

Cocaine

Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic...

. These balloons may be swallowed, but may also be hidden in other body cavities as the rectum

Rectum

The rectum is the final straight portion of the large intestine in some mammals, and the gut in others, terminating in the anus. The human rectum is about 12 cm long...

 or vagina

Vagina

The vagina is a fibromuscular tubular tract leading from the uterus to the exterior of the body in female placental mammals and marsupials, or to the cloaca in female birds, monotremes, and some reptiles. Female insects and other invertebrates also have a vagina, which is the terminal part of the...

.

The swallower then attempts to cross international borders, excrete the balloons, and then sell the drugs for profit. It is far more common for the swallower to be making the trip for a drug lord or drug dealer. Swallowers are often impoverished and agree to transport the drugs in exchange for money or other favors. In fewer cases the drug dealers can attempt extortion

Extortion

Extortion is a criminal offence which occurs when a person unlawfully obtains either money, property or services from a person, entity, or institution, through coercion. Refraining from doing harm is sometimes euphemistically called protection. Extortion is commonly practiced by organized crime...

 against people by threatening physical harm against friends or family, but the more common practice is for swallowers to willingly accept the job in exchange for big payoffs. As reported in Lost Rights by James Bovard

James Bovard

James Bovard is a libertarian author and lecturer whose political commentary targets examples of waste, failures, corruption, cronyism and abuses of power in government. He is the author of Attention Deficit Democracy, and eight other books...

: "Nigerian drug lords have employed an army of "swallowers", those who will swallow as many as 150 balloons and smuggle drugs into the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. Given the per capita

Per capita

Per capita is a Latin prepositional phrase: per and capita . The phrase thus means "by heads" or "for each head", i.e. per individual or per person...

 yearly income of Nigeria

Nigeria

Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...

 is $2,100, Nigerians can collect as much as $15,000 per trip."

The U.S. Supreme Court

Supreme Court of the United States

The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...

 dealt with this issue in United States v. Montoya De Hernandez

United States v. Montoya De Hernandez

United States v. Montoya De Hernandez, 473 U.S. 531 , was a case appealed from the Ninth Circuit to the Supreme Court of the United States regarding balloon swallowing....

. In Hernandez, a woman attempted to smuggle 88 balloons of cocaine in her gastrointestinal tract. She had been detained for over 16 hours by customs inspectors before she finally passed some of the balloons. She was being held because her abdomen

Abdomen

In vertebrates such as mammals the abdomen constitutes the part of the body between the thorax and pelvis. The region enclosed by the abdomen is termed the abdominal cavity...

 was noticeably swollen (she claimed to be pregnant) and a search of her body had revealed she was wearing two pairs of elastic underpants and had lined her crotch area with paper towels. This is done because balloon swallowing makes bowel movements difficult to control.

In fiction

• The 2004 film Maria Full of Grace
  Maria Full of Grace
  Maria Full of Grace is a 2004 joint Colombian-American film, written and directed by Joshua Marston, who won the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay. Although the movie depicts rural life in Colombia, it was actually filmed in Ecuador...
  
  (advertised as "Based on 1,000 true stories") depicts the voyage of a young Colombian woman to New York as a balloon swallowing mule in great detail.
• The 2009 Tamil film Ayan
  Ayan (film)
  Ayan is a 2009 Tamil action thriller film written and directed by K. V. Anand. The film, starring Surya, Prabhu, Tamannaah and Akashdeep Saighal in lead roles, was produced by M. Saravanan and M. S. Guhan, while distribution handled by Sun Pictures. The film score was composed by Harris Jayaraj,...
  
   too depicts a set of men being employed as a balloon swallowing mule where one such faces death after it ruptures in his stomach.
• In Bolletjes Blues
  Bolletjes Blues
  Bolletjes Blues is a 2006 Dutch musical film with Negativ as the main character, Spike.-Plot:...
  
  , a 2006 Dutch musical film, a character is smuggling cocaine from Suriname to the Netherlands as a balloon swallower.
• In 3 Balloons, a song in the 2009 album with the same name
  3 Balloons
  -Personnel:* Stephen Lynch – acoustic guitar, vocals* Dean Sharenow – drums* Ivan Bodley – bass* Rich Campbell – piano* Erik Della Penna – electric guitar, cigar box guitars* Jonathan Dinklage – violin, viola, string arrangements...
  
   by Stephen Lynch
  Stephen Lynch (musician)
  Stephen Andrew Lynch , is an American stand-up comedian, musician and Tony Award-nominated actor who is known for his songs mocking daily life and popular culture. Lynch has released two studio albums and two live albums along with a live DVD...
  
  , Lynch sings about smuggling balloons of cocaine and other various drugs.
• In the 2010 film, Get Him to the Greek
  Get Him to the Greek
  Get Him to the Greek is a 2010 American comedy film written, produced, and directed by Nicholas Stoller and starring Jonah Hill and Russell Brand. The film was released on June 4, 2010. Get Him to the Greek is a spin-off sequel of Stoller's 2008 film Forgetting Sarah Marshall, reuniting director...
  
  , Jonah Hill
  Jonah Hill
  Jonah Hill Feldstein , known professionally as Jonah Hill, is an American actor, producer, screenwriter, and comedian. Hill is best known roles for his roles in Superbad, Knocked Up, and Get Him to the Greek. He made his theatrical debut in I Heart Huckabees, alongside Jason Schwartzman and Dustin...
  
  's character is talked into smuggling a balloon full of heroine onto a plane through his rectum. While on the plane, he needs to sneeze, almost excreting the balloon from his anus.