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2014 saw 176 ‘body cavity concealment events’

The federal government is looking for doctors to help monitor suspected smugglers’ bowel movements at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, in a solicitation that sounds like it could be something out of the Discovery Channel’s “Dirty Jobs” program.

In reality it’s all a very sanitary process and even includes a special high-tech toilet to recover the drugs or other contraband from the other waste passing from the suspected smuggler’s system.

But the details, described in a new solicitation for doctors to assist U.S. Customs and Border Protection, underscore the efforts smugglers will go to in trying to get their goods into the country, and the lengths the government will go to try to flush them out.

Doctors must be available round-the-clock in case CBP officers suspect they have a “swallower,” which is what internal drug smugglers are known as. The doctors are charged with X-raying or otherwise examining suspects’ body cavities, and if drugs are found, the work order says “the detainee may be held for a monitored bowel movement (MBM) to wait the passage of the contraband material.”

“During the MBM, the detainee will remain in the medical facility under the care and monitoring of the contractor,” CBP said.

Airport Medical Offices at JFK currently holds the contract, which was last renewed in 2009. The company ignored phone and web messages seeking comment. The Department of Homeland Security officer in charge of the contract didn’t respond to a request for more details, but CBP in a statement said the medical program is a key law enforcement tool that maintains “the highest levels of integrity, dignity and respect” for all involved.